Love You Like I Do
by Valo.Vixen
Summary: When Destiny's friends told her a tattoo could be a life changing experience, she had no idea...
1. Leaving a Mark

Leaving a Mark...

Destiny McMahon ran a hand through her long, bright red hair as she pushed open the door of the High Voltage Tattoo Shop, owned by the legendary Kat Von D. She was literally fresh from a stint in rehab, having only been let out mere hours before.  
She apprehensively approached the front desk and spoke in a small voice to a heavily tattooed woman with piercings through both cheeks and was busy painting her nails a vibrant pink.  
"Uh...hello?"  
The woman looked up abruptly, almost up-ending her bottle of nail-polish.  
"Hi there, welcome to High Voltage. I'm Pixie. Can I help you?"  
Destiny cleared her throat.  
"I have an appointment with Kat. My name's Destiny."  
"Wow, that's such a pretty name!" Pixie exclaimed, glancing down at the appointment book. "Kat's just finishing up with another client at the moment. You can either have a seat on the gold couches, skate on the ramp, or dance on the pole while you wait."  
Pixie smiled at Destiny, who walked over and took a seat on the plush gold sofa by the window. She was nervous. Not of the tattoo. God knew she had plenty of experience with needles. She was just a little apprehensive because the discussion would inevitably turn to why she was getting the tattoo in the first place. She knew she needed to talk about it to someone, but she was frightened that she might burden them, or put them off with her sob story. She knew, however, that the topic would be raised while she was in the chair. She knew this because LA Ink was pretty much all she had watched when she was in rehab. It was what had made her want to commemorate her experiences in this way. She loved the show, and the idea of a tattoo, but that didn't mean she couldn't be nervous.  
"Destiny?" she heard a voice call.  
Her very name had always struck her as the height of irony. Destiny. Her mother used to tell when she was a little girl that they had named her that because they knew she was destined to do great things, but, as the years went by, her mother was proved wrong. Destiny's only purpose or ambition in life had been to sit around in a drug-dealer's house in a totally zombified state because she was just too fucked up to do anything else.  
Destiny glanced up when she heard her name. Kat Von D was walking towards her, sketch pad in hand, ready to draw up the design.  
"Hi, I'm Kat." the heavily tattooed woman introduced herself, offering Destiny her hand.  
"Destiny." she said, with a small smile.  
"So do you have an idea of what you want?" Kat asked, pencil poised at the ready on her sketch pad.  
"Yeah." said Destiny, sitting forward on the couch. "I wanted to get a portrait of this."  
She held out a photo of a small girl, no older than three years old.  
"But I want her to have wings."  
"Like angel wings?" Kat asked as she began to sketch out a concept.  
"Yeah."  
"Okay, sweet. Well, this will take me a few minutes to draw up, so if you wanna, like, go grab a coffee or some food or something that's cool." Kat said, standing up.  
"Thanks. See you soon, I guess."

Fifteen minutes later, Destiny walked back into High Voltage.  
"Destiny!" Kat exclaimed. "You ready?"  
Destiny nodded and headed over to Kat's work station, where Kat put a stencil on her arm.  
"Go take a look in the mirror." she told her.  
Destiny wandered over and looked briefly in the mirror.  
"It's perfect." she said.  
"You're sure?" Kat asked, wanting to make sure she was entirely certain before they began.  
Destiny nodded.  
"Okay, jump into the chair then." she told her, gesturing towards the tattoo chair in front of her.  
Destiny did as Kat said, watching as Kat prepped the needle and ink.  
"You got any other tattoos?" Kat asked as she worked.  
"Yeah, I've got a whole back piece and a half-sleeve on the other arm." she replied, raising the sleeve slightly to show her.  
"Oh, cool." said Kat. "Okay, I'm gonna start now. You're gonna feel a little prick."  
But Destiny barely felt it at all. She was so used to needles that they didn't even bother her anymore.  
"So who's the girl in the picture?" Kat asked finally.  
"Uh...me." said Destiny simply.  
"Really? What made you wanna get a self-portrait?"  
"Just to remind myself of who I used to be and how important it is for me to get back there." Destiny explained.  
"Sounds like there's a story behind it." Kat observed.  
They heard the bell at the front door jingle as someone entered and stood there talking to Pixie.  
Destiny merely nodded, taking a deep breath before she opened her mouth.  
"I left home when I was fifteen." she began.  
"Where was home?" Kat asked.  
"New York. My parents were always great to me. I was an only child so I suppose I was always spoiled. Then, when I was fourteen, I met my ex-boyfriend, who was four years older than me and heavily into drugs. So, naturally, I started experimenting. When my parents found out, it broke their hearts to watch what I was doing to myself. They talked about putting me into a clinic and, you know, I was young and I thought I knew it all. So I took off. Met up with my boyfriend and a few of our friends one night and we all got high and decided to just get in the car and drive."  
"And that's how you ended up in LA?" Kat asked as she worked on Destiny's arm.  
Destiny nodded again.  
"How long ago was that?"  
"Almost ten years."  
Kat raised her eyebrows.  
"Wow, long time to have been away from home. That'd make you... 24?"  
"Yeah." Destiny agreed.  
"Have you, like, spoken to your parents since?"  
Destiny shook her head.  
"After a few years, I wanted to, but I figured they wouldn't wanna hear from me after what I did to them. And anyway, by that stage I was so addicted that I could barely form a coherent thought, let alone hold onto it for more than five seconds."  
"Wow, dude, that's intense." Kat said with awe in her voice.  
"Yeah. But anyway, a few months ago, my boyfriend died from an overdose, and that was when I knew it was time to clean up."  
"Is that the same guy you came out here with?" Kat asked.  
"Sure is."  
"Holy shit, you guys were together for ages!" Kat exclaimed.  
Destiny shrugged.  
"It wasn't what you'd call a functional relationship. The drugs held us together. If it weren't for them we would have fallen apart a long time ago. But we were so out of our heads that we just kept going with the flow." she explained to a wide-eyed Kat.  
"So are you, like, clean now or...?" she trailed off.  
"As a matter of fact, I am. I just got out of rehab this morning."  
Kat glanced up from Destiny's arm momentarily to give her an incredulous look.  
"Oh my God, really?"  
Destiny nodded again.  
"I decided this was the first thing I'd do when I got out because, when I was in rehab, LA Ink was pretty much all I watched."  
"Aww." said Kat with a smile. "I'm honoured."

Ville Valo sighed as he pushed open the door to his friend Kat's tattoo shop. He could see that Kat was busy with a red-headed girl, so he walked up to the desk, tapping his fingers on it until Pixie looked up from her magazine.  
"Oh, my God, Ville!" she exclaimed when she saw him, leaning over the counter to embrace him and kiss him on both cheeks. "How've you been? How's Jonna? What are you doing here?"  
Ville tried not to let the smile slip from his face at the sound of her name. The pain was still fresh in his heart.  
"I've been better, Pixie." he said with a forced smile which he was sure must have looked more like a pained grimace. "Jonna and I broke up. I'm here to recover."  
He watched as Pixie's face fell comically. She really was like a cartoon character and it never failed to amuse him.  
"Aww, Ville, baby, I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed embracing him again.  
"It's okay, I'll live." he assured her, though he wasn't really sure if he believed himself. "I'm just here to talk to Kat."  
Pixie glanced over her shoulder at Kat's work station where she was still busy with the pretty red-head with the funny name.  
"She's with a client at the moment. Would you like to take a seat and wait?"  
He smiled and nodded, walking over to the famous gold couches and collapsing onto one of them. He ignored the pile of magazines beside him. He had never been one for idle gossip and that was all magazines these days were good for. Instead he took in his surroundings. Eventually, the young girl in Kat's tattoo chair began to talk. He simply listened from the couch, her voice carrying over to him quite clearly.  
The girl's story was heart breaking. She had been a teenage runaway, coming to Los Angeles at the age of fifteen and falling into the drug world, where she had stayed until until a few months previously and the untimely death of her boyfriend. According to her, she had then checked herself into rehab, where she had been released from that very morning, and come straight into High Voltage for a tattoo.  
Ville listened intently to the whole story. Though he could only see the back of her head from where she was sitting, she had the voice of an angel. It was soft and slightly sad, but at the same time, strong and unwavering.  
Ville smiled to himself as he saw Kat wipe the girls arm off and lead her over to the mirror.  
He squinted his eyes to catch a look at the tattoo in the mirror. It was a colour portrait of a small girl with angel wings sprouting from her back. His eyes traveled up her slim form to her face. He was immediately struck by her damaged beauty. She had striking brown eyes that were somewhat sunken, which he supposed was thanks to the drugs. She had pale skin and full pink lips. Her face was slightly blemished, but the marks were fading fast. With or without them, she was still breath-taking. The only thing about her was her shocking red hair. It suited her, but it still looked tacky.  
He watched as she turned around and embraced Kat.  
"Thank you so much!" he heard her say, happiness filling her tone.  
"Come back anytime." Kat laughed, returning the shorter woman's hug. "What's next on your post-rehab agenda?"  
The girl brushed a hand through her hair.  
"A change of hair colour. I was so spaced when I put this through it that I didn't realize how cheap and nasty it looked."  
Ville heard Kat laugh again.  
"well, I wasn't gonna say anything, but you can definitely do better."  
The girl pulled a face and laughed as well, smoothing down her Motley Crue tank top and leopard print mini-skirt. She picked a stray fibre from her black tights and knocked the heels of her boots together like the girl in 'The Wizard of Oz'.  
Just then, Kat looked over in Ville's direction.  
"Ville!" she exclaimed, grabbing the girl by the hand and pulling her over to where Ville sat.  
He stood up and allowed Kat to embrace her.  
"Destiny, this is Ville Valo from the band HIM." Kat introduced him.  
Destiny nodded, her cheeks blushing almost the same colour as her hair as Ville smiled down at her.  
"Destiny." he said, offering his hand to her. "Beautiful name for a beautiful lady. I like your tattoo."  
He gestured down at her brand new ink and she blushed an even darker shade of red.  
"Thanks." she mumbled.  
The three of them stood there for a while, engaged in idle chit-chat, during which time Destiny opened up a little more and talked and laughed with them, regaling them with stories of people on drugs making fools of themselves. Everyone there knew that these stories shouldn't be funny, but they couldn't help but laugh. By the time she said her goodbyes, Ville had grown somewhat attached to the diminutive red-head. He was intrigued by her.  
She extended her hand for him to shake before she left, but instead he lifted it to his lips and gave it a light kiss, making her blush again.  
"Farewell, Destiny. I have a feeling we'll meet again, love." he said with a wink.  
She giggled.  
"I hope so." she replied boldly, turning around and heading out the door, the bell jingling as it closed behind her.  
"Kat." he said to his friend, green eyes still on Destiny's retreating back. "Give me that girl's number."

Destiny walked away, internally kicking herself. She was fairly certain that she had just made a fool of herself in front of her favourite singer of all time. Oh well. No time to dwell on it now. Contrary to his remark just before she had left, she would probably never see him again. Now it was off to the beauty salon to get this horrific red out of her hair. She remembered looking at it for the first time when she was sober and realizing just how awful it looked. She had been mortified, but she hadn't gotten around to changing it. No one in rehab cared anyway. Everyone looked awful in their own way in that place, so nobody even looked twice at her travesty of a hair colour.  
She hoisted her gold shoulder bag higher onto her shoulder and placed on her over-sized sunglasses. Even though it was almost sunset, she always wore her sunglasses when she was outside. In the tattoo shop she was safe, but out here, people were judgmental, and her sunken eyes were the number one clue to the secrets of her past.  
Pulling her leather jacket tighter around her thin form, she shivered. She really couldn't remember the last time she had had this much weight on her. Drugs had suppressed her appetite, so she had been emaciated since the age of fifteen. Then, in rehab, after the withdrawals were over, she began to eat again and was slowly getting to a healthy weight again.  
Traffic whizzed by her as she walked down the street in the fading light. She suddenly realized that she had lived here for ten years. Ten years in which she had been stoned out her mind all the time. This city was home now, but she barely knew it at all.


	2. Chances

Chances

Destiny woke up, sweating. Glancing at her digital alarm clock, she realized it was only three in the morning. She fell back onto her pillow and pressed her hands to her eyes, trying to bring back details of the dream that had worked her into such a state.  
She remembered a vision of herself and Scotty. Young, happy and in love. She couldn't have been more than fourteen. She had looked so wholesome back then, all of her features shining from her face. Then, abruptly, the vision changed. She was years older now, at least twenty, and she was curled up in a ball on the floor, tears streaming down her face. Her once vibrant brown eyes were bleak, sunken and dead. Her once rosy cheeks were pale and hollow. Her whole face was drained of colour and she was painfully thin. Vivid track marks covered her arms and her frail body was covered in bruises. Blood seeped from a large gash on her forehead. Scotty stood over her, his fist raised, his eyes wild. He was screaming at her, but the words just came out soundlessly.  
As she lay on her bed, Destiny pressed her fingers to her temples, trying to remember what he had said.  
At last, the vision reformed in her head, sound and all.  
"You fucking BITCH!" Scotty had screamed at her as she trembled on the floor. "You think I'm gonna sit back and let a filthy WHORE like you have my baby? We'll fucking see about that!"  
Destiny opened her eyes, not wanting to remember anything else. The drugs had forced her to stay with Scotty, despite all the terrible things he did to her. The day she had told him she was pregnant was the day he had changed. The once loving, caring man of her dreams turned into the monster that had been glowering over her in her dreams for the last five years now.  
She sighed and rolled over onto her side. Maybe if he hadn't beaten her so severely that night, her baby would be with her today. Maybe she would have had the motivation to get off drugs years ago. But life never worked out in Destiny's favour.

Ville woke up bright and early that day. He never really slept much anyway, so the 6am wake up really didn't bother him. He sat up in bed and lit a cigarette, taking a few deep drags before swinging his feet out of bed and wandering downstairs into his best friend's kitchen. Bam Margera was always generous when it came to his guest bedrooms, so when Ville had called him from Finland and said that he needed to get away, Bam had offered him lodgings immediately.  
Ville switched on the coffee maker as he finished his cigarette, stubbing it out in an ashtray and then proceeding to light another.  
"Someone's up early."  
Ville heard a female voice from behind him. Swinging around, he saw Missy Margera leaning against the refrigerator wearing nothing but a black tank top, a matching thong and a seductive smile. She had been throwing herself at him ever since he arrived a week ago. He had guessed that there were problems in Bam and Missy's marriage from talking to his friend on the telephone, but never had he guessed that the problems were so bad that Missy would make advances to her husband's best friend.  
"What you thinking about?" she asked, slowly sauntering over to him and wrapping her thin arms around his waist.  
"A girl." he replied honestly.  
"Oh?" Missy questioned, a sly smile on her pointy face. She obviously thought he was talking about her.  
"Yeah, this girl I met at High Voltage when I went to visit Kat the day before I came here." he said casually.  
Missy's arms rapidly withdrew from around his waist and she walked away, a sour look upon her face.  
Ville smiled at the memory of the beautiful girl with the dreadful red hair. Destiny, her name was.  
He had only gone into High Voltage that day to ask Kat for the number of a good tattoo removalist, as he wanted to get the 'J' lasered from his ring finger, but he had left with a lasting memory of the red-headed girl with the sordid past. She had been on his mind constantly for the last week and he was unsure why. Kat had given him her number from the shop's appointment book, but he was yet to call it. He wondered if she would even remember him. Their meeting had only been brief, after all.  
His train of thought was broken by the ever-energetic Bam Margera bounding into the kitchen.  
"Mornin' bitches!" he exclaimed, flinging the fridge door open and bending over to retrieve the milk.  
"Jesus, Missy, put some clothes on!" he exclaimed when he stood up and took in his wife's appearance. "My friends don't wanna see you walking around bare-assed naked! Well, maybe Novak, but definitely not Ville!"  
Missy pouted childishly before spinning on her heel and ascending the stairs into the bedroom she and Bam shared, slamming the door behind her.  
"Is she coming onto you?" Bam asked as soon as he was sure Missy was out of earshot.  
Ville looked up at him, surprised.  
"What makes you think that?" he asked, stubbing his cigarette out in the ashtray.  
Bam shrugged.  
"I dunno, just a feeling."  
Ville sighed.  
"I'm not gonna lie to you, Bam. She is. But you know I would never go there." he assured his friend.  
Bam rubbed his eyes and sighed.  
"I just dunno what to do anymore." he sighed, clearly exasperated by his errant wife.  
Ville stayed silent. That feeling was all too familiar to him. He'd had it every day he was with Jonna.  
"So Kat called the other day. Asked me if you'd made any progress with 'The Addict'. Care to explain?" Bam asked, a mischievous glint in his eyes.  
Glad for the change of subject, Ville smiled.  
"Just a girl I met while I was at the Tattoo Shop." he said evasively, making his friend work for the information.  
Bam grinned.  
"Don't give me that coy shit. Give me details!" he demanded.  
"There's not really much to tell." Ville said honestly, taking a sip of his coffee. "She's a former drug-addict with some bad history and she's looking for a fresh start. We only spoke for about ten minutes or so. Then I got Kat to give me her number out of the appointment book."  
Bam didn't give up easily.  
"So have you called her?"  
"Not yet." Ville replied, lighting up another cigarette.  
"Why not?" Bam asked exasperatedly.  
"Like I said, Bam, we spoke for ten minutes. I doubt she even remembers me."  
"Bull-fucking-shit!" Bam exclaimed. "You're Ville fucking Valo, for Christ's sake! What girl could forget you?"  
Ville chuckled.  
"I'd like to think I made that much of an impression." he said, somewhat wistfully.  
"You totally do, man. You're just too modest to admit it." Bam said knowingly. "Call her!"  
He then tousled Ville's hair and exited the room with a steaming cup of coffee in his hand, heading up the stairs, no doubt to confront Missy.  
Ville sighed. Maybe he'd call her. Maybe he wouldn't. Either way, she would still be on his mind.

Hours later, Destiny awoke for the second time that day. There had been no more dreams like the one that had woken her up in the small hours of the morning, just peaceful sleep with dreams of a green-eyed man whirling her around a dancefloor to the strains of 'Close to the Flame'. She knew who the man was. Ville Valo. Since meeting him in Kat Von D's tattoo shop a week previously, he had been on her mind constantly, though she was unsure why. She barely knew him, and they hadn't spoken for long. Plus, it was highly unlikely that she would ever see him again. She dragged herself out of bed and glanced at herself in the mirror, admiring her hair. She'd had it cut to her shoulders and dyed a dark, chocolate brown that appeared almost black. It had some reddish auburn highlights in it and, over all, looked much better than the hideous red she had put through it. She pushed it out of her eyes and made her way into the bathroom of the tiny one bedroom apartment that the rehab clinic had hooked her up with until she could find her own place. It was a shithole, but at least it was something.  
She showered quickly and walked back into her bedroom, naked. she picked out her clothes and lay them on her bed before beginning to blow-dry her hair in the full length mirror against the wall. She worked diligently until her phone began to ring. She checked the caller ID. It was an unknown number. She flipped her phone open and pressed it to her ear.  
"Whoever this is, make it quick. I'm naked." she said flippantly.  
"Oh, terribly sorry love. Should I call back?" said a heavily accented voice.  
Her stomach backflipped within her body. She knew that voice.  
"Ville." she breathed, a dull blush creeping into her cheeks.  
"You remember me?" he asked, pleasantly surprised.  
"Of... Of course I remember you." she stuttered, tripping over her words. "How did you get my number?"  
"Oh, um, well..." he began awkwardly. "Kat's an old friend and when I asked her a favour..."  
"She couldn't say no." Destiny finished for him, grinning.  
"Exactly, love." he said, seemingly delighted that she understood and wasn't mad.  
"So, any reason for the early morning phone call?" she asked, truly baffled.  
What would Ville Valo ever want with the likes of her?  
"Um... I've no idea why, but I really would like to see you again." he admitted somewhat shyly.  
She smiled at his coy tone.  
"Me too." she agreed.  
"So, I was wondering if...maybe... I could fly you out to West Chester to spend a few days with me at my friend's house. Feel free to shoot me down in flames if that sounds like a bad idea." he finished with a slight chuckle.  
"Uh...not at all." Destiny said, feeling slightly punch-drunk, as though she had just received a blow to the head with something blunt and heavy.  
"Great!" Ville exclaimed happily. "I'll sort the tickets out and give you a call later, shall I?"  
She agreed eagerly and hung up the phone. Rehab was helping her out in more ways than one.


	3. Extraordinary Girl

Extraordinary Girl

As the plane took of, Destiny wondered for the hundredth time what the hell she was doing. What business did she have flying off to West Chester to spend time with a world famous rock star that she had met and spoken to for all of about ten seconds?  
Oh well. Too late for second thoughts now. The plane was rapidly ascending into the air.  
Still, though, she couldn't quite get her head around the whole situation. She and Ville Valo, locked up in a house together? What did they have in common? Nothing, from what she could tell. He was a celebrity and she was just some reformed junkie that he had found in a tattoo shop. She wondered if she was merely a distraction. He had mentioned something to Kat about a bad break up and a dire need to 'get away from it all', so perhaps she was merely something to keep him amused in the meantime.  
She sighed and pulled her iPod out of her carry-on, popping the earphones in and switching it on, flicking it to the new HIM album. She skimmed through the songs for a moment, before finally settling on 'Ode to Solitude'. She turned the volume all the way up and leaned back in her seat, closing her eyes. Some turbulence shook her for a moment and then she began to drift off to sleep, hoping against hope that she wouldn't be plagued by any of her living nightmares before the plane landed.

Ville paced around the Pirate Bar nervously. Destiny was, at this very minute, in an airplane somewhere above Pennsylvania, due to land in Philadelphia at any moment. He didn't know why he was behaving like a school boy waiting for his prom date to show up, but he couldn't help it.  
Missy walked through the room, not looking at him or speaking to him. He guessed Bam had indeed confronted her about what Ville had confessed to him in the kitchen. Whatever, it didn't bother him at all. Not only was Missy his best friend's wife, she was also not his type. Plus, Ville had hated being put in the awkward situation of rejecting her advances. When Bam and Missy had first gotten married, he had really liked her. But something had changed and she had become a whole different person. He struggled to understand why Bam was still putting up with her. He could understand giving love a second chance, but it was plain that Missy was no longer the woman he married.  
Ville sighed and ran a hand through his thick, dark hair.  
Just when he thought he was about to burst with the suspense, Bam bounded into the Pirate Bar in his customary boisterous manner.  
"C'mon, Valo, lets go! Time to pick up your lady." he announced, a wide grin plastered across his face.  
Ville frowned at him slightly.  
"She's not my 'lady', Bam." he reminded his friend. "Merely someone I'm interested in getting to know."  
Bam rolled his eyes.  
"Yeah, whatever, you Finnish Romeo." he said with a wink. "Get your ass into the Hummer and lets get out of here!"

As Destiny walked through baggage claim, she kept her eyes peeled for Ville. He had no said what he would be wearing, nor what sort of car he would be in, so she merely scanned the parking lot looking for those all-too-familiar green eyes that she had seen in her dreams at least a dozen times since meeting him.  
Finally, she spotted him and another, much shorter man leaning against a big, blue Hummer. She squinted hard to see if the short man was indeed who she thought he was.  
Bam Margera. No doubt about it. That cheeky grin and thick, curly mop of dark brown hair could not be mistaken. She smiled. She loved Viva La Bam. She used to watch it religiously, even when she was so stoned out of her skull that she could barely move.  
When she approached them, she could have sworn that Ville's emerald green eyes lit up. She shook her head, positive that she must have imagined it, but when she looked back up, there it was again. A sparkle somewhere deep within his eyes that had certainly not been there a second before.  
When she finally stopped directly in front of them, he smiled.  
"Destiny, good to see you? How was the flight?" he said, extending his hand.  
She shook it.  
"Oh, it was okay. Uneventful." she said, shrugging.  
Bam cleared his throat and started pointedly at Ville.  
"Oh, right!" Ville exclaimed. "Destiny, this is my good friend-"  
"Bam Margera." she cut him off, offering the skateboarder her hand.  
He shook it enthusiastically.  
"Heard a lot about you." he told her, causing Ville to blush.  
"Christ, Bam, you're making me sound like some kind of weird stalker!" he exclaimed.  
Destiny and Bam laughed.  
"Anyway." Bam continued. "You'll be staying at my house. Booze is on me, so feel free to stay as long as you want."  
She grinned at him.  
"Careful." she warned him. "Offer me free access to your house and you may never get rid of me. I've always dreamed of living at Castle Bam."  
Both Ville and Bam laughed.  
"Honey, if you make my Ville happy then I wouldn't mind in the slightest. Maybe it would inspire him to visit more often."  
She grinned at Ville, who smiled shyly back. This surprised her. Finnish Rock God, nervous of Former Rock Addict? It was unthinkable.  
"Anyway." said Bam, breaking the momentary silence. "Enough of this small-talk shit, lets get back to the house and get drunk!"  
The all climbed into the waiting Hummer, Ville extending a hand to help the diminutive Destiny up, and set off at top speed towards Castle Bam.

On the drive home, Bam kept shooting glances over his shoulder in the rearview mirror. When Ville had invited Destiny to stay, he had not mentioned that she was a total knockout. This could only end badly for a man trying desperately to keep his marriage intact. He didn't speak, but merely listened to Ville and Destiny talking in the back seat.  
"I like what you've done with your hair." Ville said, twisting a strand of it around his finger.  
Destiny smiled.  
"Thanks. But then, anything would be better than that nasty-ass red I had in it." she said ruefully.  
Ville chuckled and put his arm around her shoulders, sending a pang of jealousy through Bam's stomach.  
"It's not a shade I would recommend." he admitted in his deep voice. "So where are you living now that you're out of rehab?"  
She wrinkled her small, delicate nose.  
"In this shitty one bedroom apartment that the clinic set up. It's just until I can find my own place." she assured him.  
"Well, like Bam said, you're more than welcome to stay here for as long as you like." he reminded her.  
She smiled up at him, her brown eyes sparkling.  
"I just might." she stated with a wink.

As the Hummer pulled into the driveway of Castle Bam, Destiny stared out the window in awe. She didn't try to hide her amazement at the sheer size and opulence of the place. Ville found it irresistibly adorable. He helped her down from the Hummer and led her by the hand to Bam's front door, Bam himself following not far behind them.  
When they entered the house, Bam yelled at the men lazing around in the kitchen to come outside and help him with Destiny's luggage.  
"And it anything gets broken, the culprit sleeps out in the Treetop Casino for a week!" he warned as they all followed him out to the Hummer and began to unload Destiny's bags.  
While they were busy, Ville gave Destiny a quick tour of the house which ended in the infamous Pirate Bar, where a young woman with straight brown hair and a sour expression sat, nursing a glass of wine and avidly reading a magazine.  
"This is Missy, Bam's wife." he introduced her.  
When Missy failed to acknowledge him, he cleared his throat, forcing her to look up.  
"Hello." she said, shooting Destiny a withering glare.  
"Hi!" Destiny replied, offering her hand out for Missy to shake.  
When the older woman simply continued to look at Destiny's outstretched hand like it was carrying some horrible, contagious disease, she retracted it, looking up at Ville questioningly. He merely shook his head and led her out to the deck, where he sat down on a lounger and lit up a cigarette, offering her one at the same time. She took it and then leaned forward to accept his offer of a light. Taking a deep drag on the strong Finnish cigarette, she sat back in the lounger opposite Ville.  
"What was her problem?" she asked after a second, gesturing back inside towards Missy.  
"Just some marital problems between her and Bam." he said non-noncommittally  
"What kind of problems?" Destiny pressed, anxious to be brought up to speed on the daily comings and goings of Castle Bam so she could be sure not to offend anyone else in future.  
Ville inhaled on his cigarette, allowing the smoke to drift from his nostrils in a lazy spiral.  
"I'm not exactly sure what started the problems, but all I know is that they've gotten bad enough for her to physically throw herself at me every chance she gets." he said casually.  
Destiny's eyes widened.  
"Are you serious!"  
Ville merely nodded.  
"That is, until the other day when I told Bam about it. I think he must have said something to her because now, she won't even look at me. Not that I'm complaining." he added quickly.  
"It isn't fun having your best friend's significant other come onto you." she said knowledgeably. "It puts you in the awkward position of 'Do I tell them? Do I not tell them? Am I totally ruining their relationship if I say something or am I totally ruining our friendship by not saying something?'."  
Ville glanced at her, his eyebrows raised.  
"Sounds like there's a story behind that bit of insight, love." he stated, taking a final drag on his cigarette and then tossing it over the railing.  
Destiny was silent for a moment.  
"There is." she agreed, she too tossing her cigarette butt off the deck. "But that's for another time."  
Ville stayed silent, not wanting to push her. The fact that she was here was enough. It was still in the 'getting to know you' phase. He had a feeling that the 'skeletons in my closet' stage wasn't too far off, and he planned on being nothing but patient with this extraordinary girl.


	4. What a Wicked Game to Play

What A Wicked Game To Play

When Destiny awoke the following morning, she felt refreshed. The bed Bam had given her was warm and comfortable and she had a hard time making the decision to leave it.  
But, finally, she did. She had a quick shower in the adjoining bathroom and then ransacked her closet for something to wear, eventually deciding to go for comfort over style. She threw on her comfy old jeans that were ripped at the knees and fraying around the bottom and then slipped into an old '69 Eyes' t-shirt. She quickly straightened her hair and applied a bit of eyeliner before lacing up her converse and grabbing her favourite hoodie and heading downstairs for breakfast. To her surprise, the kitchen was deserted. She glanced at her watch. No wonder the house was so quiet. It was barely six o'clock.  
She fiddled around with the coffee machine for a moment, trying to figure out how to turn it on. When she succeeded, she began to rifle through Bam's cabinets for something to eat, hoping he wouldn't mind. Letting out a sigh of frustration when she found nothing, she shut the pantry door only to be confronted by a shirtless Ville standing there, a steaming up of coffee in his hands and a grin on his face  
"Good luck, love." he said. "Bam never goes shopping. He usually just orders out or calls Ape to bring something over when he wants food."  
She sighed again and ran a hand through her hair.  
"I should have known." she said ruefully. "Can you drive?"  
Ville laughed.  
"I'm afraid not, darling." he chuckled.  
"Me neither. I never bothered to get my license."  
She strolled over to the counter and jumped up on top of it, swinging her legs over the edge. The room was silent for a moment. Just as Ville opened his mouth to say something, Missy walked into the kitchen, barefoot. She only wore one of Bam's shirts. Destiny could tell she had nothing underneath.  
"Good morning, Ville." she said cheerfully, walking up behind him and snaking her arms around his waist, standing up on tiptoe to give him a kiss on the cheek.  
She shot a withering glare at Destiny.  
"Get off my counter!" she ordered, still staring daggers at her.  
Destiny hurriedly slid off the counter and rushed out of the room. As curious she was about Bam's wife's behaviour, this was none of her business.

Ville wrenched himself out of Missy's grasp as Destiny left the kitchen. He spun around to face her, his face contorted in anger.  
"What is your problem?" he demanded furiously.  
Missy looked up at him, wide-eyed. It wasn't often that Ville Valo got angry, but when he did it was serious.  
"What?" she asked, feigning innocence.  
"You! Draping yourself all over me all the time! Missy, I don't think you understand. I'm your husband's best friend!" he shouted at her, his long arms waving around in the air with frustration.  
Missy simply stood there and pouted.  
"I don't know what you mean, Ville." she argued, refusing to acknowledge her own indiscretions.  
Ville ran a hand through his hair.  
"Don't stand there and play coy with me, Missy. You know what I mean! Whenever I'm alone in a room, you just happen to show up, always very scantily dressed, I might add. Not only that, but you're always touching me in a way that you shouldn't be. And now, you're even doing it in front of Destiny." he finished, outraged.  
"I'm only trying to protect you, Ville!" she cried finally in her defense.  
"From what!" he demanded.  
"Her! You just got rid of one skank, the last thing you need is another!" Missy shouted, stamping her foot childishly and gesturing wildly in the direction that Destiny had fled.  
Ville took a few deep breaths, trying desperately to calm himself down. Missy took advantage of his silence. Walking over so that they were almost chest-to-chest, she wrapped her arms back around his waist.  
"I mean, come on, Ville. Former drug-addict? Teenage runaway? You don't need that. What you need is a nice girl from a quiet town who won't cause you any trouble." she said softly, in what she apparently considered to be a seductive tone.  
He decided to play along for the moment.  
"Someone like you?" he asked her, breathing the words into her ear, making her shiver.  
He wrapped one arm around her waist, his other arm behind his back, slipping his cell phone out of his back pocket and texting frantically. Missy took the bait.  
"Exactly." she whispered, leaning in to close the gap between their lips.  
"Missy, what the FUCK!"  
Right on cue. Ville slipped away from her, sidling over to stand behind his best friend. Destiny stood beside him, smiling up at him before turning her attention back to the scene before them.  
"Bam! I...uh...honey, I swear, it's not what it looks like. I...I... He tried to rape me!" she cried finally.  
Ville's eyebrows shot up and his jaw dropped to the kitchen tiles.  
Bam threw his head back and gave a hysterical laugh.  
"Right. Sure, Missy. He tried to rape you." he said in a mocking tone.  
"It's true! I swear it, honey! You know I would never do anything to hurt you!" she continued to shout, attracting the attention of every occupant of Castle Bam.  
Dunn, Novak, Raab and Dico now stood with Destiny and Ville at the kitchen door, trying to figure out what was going on.  
"Then why," Bam shouted at the top of his lungs, his eyes popping out of his head in anger, "did Destiny just get a text from Ville saying 'Bring Bam to the kitchen now'!"  
Missy shot Ville and Destiny a filthy look and then changed tactics with her husband.  
"Well, it's obvious she wants you!" she shouted, now trying to play the possessive wife role and failing miserably. "And he's wanted me since the moment you introduced us! And now they're trying to ruin our marriage so they can get what they want!"  
Bam laughed again.  
"Missy, if anyone's responsible for this marriage falling apart, it's YOU! So don't try to pin this on Destiny and Ville!" he yelled.  
He then paused. He seemed to come out of his black rage for a second and realized that they were still standing in the kitchen arguing in front of everyone. His face went red and he turned back to Missy.  
"You. Me. Upstairs. Now!" he ordered her, his voice cold and deadly.  
He then turned on his heel and stormed out of the room. Missy stood there for a moment before suddenly remembering that she was clad only in Bam's shirt and was standing in front of every Castle Bam resident.  
"What the fuck are you all looking at!" she shrieked shrilly. "Just fuck off and break something already!"  
Everyone scattered quickly, rushing off in different directions, muttering about chores that didn't need doing, or errands that didn't need running, or meetings that weren't happening just to get away from the harpy of a woman before them.

"Quick, love, let's go." Destiny heard Ville say somewhere behind her as Missy's screaming bitch-fit reached it's peak.  
He grabbed her hand and lead her out onto the deck, where they fell into the loungers, laughing so hard they could barely breathe.  
"Oh...my...God!" Destiny panted, gasping for air. "That...was...hilarious!"  
Too deprived of oxygen to reply, Ville simply nodded enthusiastically, tears of laughter streaming down his cheeks.  
They both lay there in the loungers for a moment, struggling to regain their composure.  
Destiny wiped the tears that were beginning to form in her eyes.  
"I know that shouldn't have been funny." she said. "But it soooo was! I'm going to Hell for laughing at that, aren't I, Ville?"  
He chuckled, drying off his tear-stained face.  
"Probably, love." he agreed. "So I guess I'll see you there."  
After the laughing finally died down completely, they sat in silence, which was broken only by the muffled shouting from behind Bam and Missy's bedroom door.  
All of a sudden, they heard something shatter. Destiny flinched.  
"That sounded expensive." she said.  
"Well, money is hardly one of Bam's main concerns." Ville pointed out.  
She nodded and the silence resumed. They continued to sit on the sunbathed deck, chain-smoking their was first through Ville's packet of cigarettes and then Destiny's. They both started and turned around as they heard Bam's bedroom door fly open.  
"Right, that's fuckin' IT!" Bam yelled over his shoulder. "You got a week to get all your shit packed up and outta my house! I'm sendin' my lawyers over to make sure nothin' of mine leaves with you."  
They heard Missy let out a frustrated scream as something else shattered against the wall.  
"Keep throwin' my shit, woman, and you can pay to replace it. Right, assholes!" he said, turning his attention to the house's other occupants. "Pack some shit and get in the Hummer! We're going out to The State of Bam until she's out. I don't wanna be here."  
Everyone got up from where they sat and headed towards their rooms to do as Bam said. Normally, there would have been some protests. From Dunn, because he really hated staying out at the State of Bam. From Dico, because the State of Bam had actually been the State of Bran for several years now and Bam always failed to remember. From Novak, because he hated being the village idiot. But this time, nobody said a word. They had been watching Bam and Missy's relationship deteriorate for months now. They just wanted it to be over and done with so that Bam would return to his usual boisterous self and life could resume as normal.


	5. They Say Three's a Crowd

They Say Three's a Crowd...

Destiny loved the feeling of the fresh country air hitting her in the face as she got out of the Hummer and surveyed the scene that was the State of Bam. The trailers were all horribly defaced. She laughed to herself when she saw that one of them had another on top of it. She wondered who it belonged to. Everyone began to split up and head for their individual trailers.  
She glanced up as she felt a presence beside her. Ville's tall, lanky form loomed over her. She turned her head back and smiled to herself. For some reason, she felt comforted when he was near. She could sense that he felt horribly guilty about Missy and Bam's marriage breakdown, but he really shouldn't blame himself. She had only spent one night in Castle Bam so far and even she could see that it was only a matter of time.  
"I think we should go claim our trailers before they're all taken, love." came Ville's deep, soothing voice from beside her.  
She nodded her agreement and they began walking down the slight incline towards the cluster of trailers. Destiny glanced out over the lake and smiled again. She decided right then and there that she loved it out here. It was different from the big city she was used to. LA had too much hustle and bustle. She could get used to living in a place like this.  
"Hey, fuckos!" came Bam's voice from the window of the two-storey trailer. "There's only one left, so it looks like you two lovebirds are rooming together. Unless Des would prefer to bunk with Novak."  
Destiny's eyes widened as she looked over at Novak's skinny, naked form.  
"Uhh, no offense, buddy." she yelled out to him. "But herpes really isn't on my to-do list."  
Bam gave a shriek of laughter from his trailer and then withdrew his head. All of a sudden, Dico popped up beside them, making her jump. The man really did have a habit of popping up where you least expected him, always wearing the most ridiculous of costumes and speaking in the silliest of accents.  
Presently, he wore a weird curly brown wig and an outfit that looked like it was directly out of Texas during the Civil War period.  
"Please, allow me to escort the lady and her suitor to their chambers." he said in a southern accent, offering his arm to Destiny.  
Laughing, she took it and, with her free hand, grabbed Ville's arm, dragging him after them. Dico took them to a trailer which was nowhere near as dilapidated as the rest. It even had a white picket fence surrounding it, along with some nice potted flowers.  
"It's Phil and Ape's, but since they're not here, feel free to trash it." came a voice from behind them.  
Ville and Destiny started and spun around, only to find Bam standing behind them, blue eyes sparkling in the sunlight.  
Destiny laughed again. She laughed a lot in their company. It felt nice. It had been so long since she had a genuine reason to laugh that she had almost forgotten what it felt like.  
"Anyway, I'm having a 'My Wife is a Cheating Whore' party tonight, so be ready." he went on to warn them. "I'm inviting Jimmy Pop and Evil Jared, Mark the Bagger, Shitbirdz, Jess and Kelly, Ape and Phil... Probably a few more, too. Just thought I'd let you know."  
He finished with a shrug and walked away.  
"I feel horrible." said Ville after a moment, confirming Destiny's suspicions.  
"Don't." she advised him. "You aren't responsible for Missy's actions. It was bound to happen sooner or later, and if not with you, I'm sure she would have found another man to throw herself at."  
Ville looked at her curiously and she sighed.  
"C'mon, Ville. I'm a woman. I know how women work. She wasn't throwing herself at you because of any kind of attraction she felt towards you. It was simply because you were there. If it hadn't been you, it probably would have been Dunn or Novak or one of the other guys. Stop beating yourself up."  
Ville looked at her intently.  
"You really are full of wisdom, aren't you?" he stated more than asked.  
It wasn't sarcastic or satirical, merely an observation. If anything, he said it somewhat fondly. Destiny grinned.  
"Not so much 'wisdom'. Just experience." she said, still smiling at him.  
"Well, love!" he exclaimed in a much cheerier tone. "I do believe I better enjoy this party, as it's probably going to be the last time I torture my liver."  
She looked up at him, confused.  
"After I left Jonna, I swore to myself I'd stop drinking, I just never decided when. But what better event than a Bam Margera party for my last drink? Send it out with a bang and all that, you know?" he clarified.  
She laughed at him.  
"What better event indeed."

As the hours rolled on, people began to arrive at the State of Bam. As promised, Jimmy Pop and Evil Jared of the Bloodhound Gang were indeed in attendance. As were Bam's parents, April and Phil, his Uncle Shitbirdz, his brother Jess with his wife Kelly, the infamous Don Vito, Mark the Bagger, plus several more people that Ville didn't recognize.  
He glanced over at Destiny and felt a stab of jealousy as he watched her sitting on Jimmy Pop's lap, beer in hand, laughing so hard she had tears rolling down her cheeks.  
He knew it was more than likely totally innocent. Jimmy Pop, for all his eccentricities, was hardly a sleaze, and he quite often worked people into fits of laughter that left them devoid of oxygen for a few minutes. He didn't even know why he felt so envious. He had no claim over Destiny. She was a grown woman and was free to do as she wished. But still, the feeling stayed.  
He had been nursing the same beer for almost an hour now, and Bam must have noticed this, because he presently came bounding over to where Ville sat, isolated from the rest of the party.  
"What's up, Valo? You look someone pissed in your beer." he said, eloquent as always.  
Note the sarcasm.  
Ville sighed and dragged a hand through his unwashed hair.  
"Nothing, Bam Bam, merely reflecting."  
"On how your little girlfriend over there is cozying up to Jimmy Pop?" Bam questioned, a knowing look on his face.  
Ville shook his head, not convincing Bam for a second.  
"Look, man, why don't you just go over and talk to her. If you don't make it obvious that you like her, then how's she ever gonna know?"  
Ville was silent for a moment. He then stood up suddenly.  
"I never thought I'd say these words, but Bam Margera, you are absolutely right."

Bam watched Ville walk away sadly, regretting having given him the advice. He couldn't deny to himself his feelings for Destiny. Especially now that Missy was gone. Not only was Destiny gorgeous, she was smart, funny, witty and everything else he wanted in a woman. Missy had once seemed to be all these things. How wrong he had been on that front. But there was something about Destiny that made her seem so...genuine.  
Of course, he noticed the way she and Ville looked at one another and knew that his chances were slim. He also felt terribly guilty for developing feelings for his best friend's love interest, but he tried to justify it by thinking about how his wife seemed to have developed feelings for Ville. A little tit for tat never hurt anyone, he reasoned to himself.  
But even he didn't believe his thoughts. He wasn't always the badass that was broadcast on MTV. He had a heart. And right now, it was broken.

Destiny looked up and saw Ville walking determinedly towards her. Surprised, she stood up off of Jimmy's lap, spilling half of her beer on him.  
"Oh, my God, I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed.  
But of course, the rock star wasn't fazed.  
"Don't worry about." he told her, waving it off as if it was nothing.  
She glanced up again and saw that Ville was right in front of her.  
"Ville!" she greeted him, genuinely happy to see him.  
She reached up and hugged him, stumbling slightly. She had already drank her way through nine or ten beers and was beginning to get a little unsteady on her feet.  
He chuckled and caught her, supporting her as he led her away from the roaring fire that had been lit in the pit between all the trailers.  
He took her back over to where Bam sat. He looked oddly glum, but then again, he had just separated from his wife, so it was to be understood.  
"Mind if we join you, Bam Bam?" he asked politely.  
Bam merely shook his head. He, like Ville, hadn't had much to drink yet, which was strange as Bam was usually the first to pass out.  
Noticing that the boys were lagging behind, Destiny jumped up from her seat.  
"I'll be right back!" she exclaimed, staggering away through the crowd and out of sight.  
"You okay, Bam?" Ville asked once she was gone.  
Bam nodded and took a sip of his luke-warm beer.  
At that moment, Destiny returned, dragging a cooler full of beer behind her and clutching a bottle of Jack in her free hand.  
"Drink up, boys!" she ordered, plonking the alcohol down in front of them. "I refuse to be the only drunk person in this little trio, so hurry up and join me in being shit-faced!"

The time proceeded to fly by as Ville, Destiny and Bam got increasingly drunk in their little corner. Eventually, the party died down. The guests left and the occupants retreated to their trailers, leaving the three of them outside alone.  
Destiny shivered.  
"Cold, love?" Ville asked her.  
She nodded, grimacing slightly.  
He staggered drunkenly to his feet and tried to help her up, the result of which was that they both cam crashing down on top of Bam, who yelled out in pain and surprise before joining in with their fit of laughter.  
"Seriously, though." said Ville. "We probably should get inside before we all catch cold."  
Still laughing, Ville and Bam struggled into an upright position, dragging Destiny to her feet. She was much further gone than either of them and could no longer walk unsupported.  
The three of them stumbled into Ville and Destiny's trailer and collapsed on Destiny's bunk, which was the bigger one. She was a lot smaller than Ville, but he was a gentleman and had insisted that she take the larger bunk.  
"You know what?" Destiny slurred.  
Ville and Bam looked at her curiously.  
"I've laughed more in the past two days than I have in the past ten years." she said with a slight hiccup.  
And with that, they all dissolved into giggles once more.  
"And you know what else?" she said once again, her slurring very evident.  
"What's that, love?" Ville asked her.  
"You two..." she began. "Are incredibly sexy men."  
She looked at Ville seductively, biting her bottom lip in a way that made him want to rip her clothes off and ravish her right there and then.  
She put down the bottle of Jack that was now half empty and crawled slowly towards him, attaching her lips to his.  
He knew that this was not the way it should be happening. They were both drunk beyond comprehension and Bam was in the room, but from the moment her lips touched his, he was at the point of no return.  
He sucked insistently on her sweet, pink lips. She tasted like whiskey, cigarettes and beer, but he didn't find himself repelled by it. If anything, it was actually quite a turn on in a weird way.  
He rolled his tongue over her lower lip and she opened her mouth, allowing him entry. He entwined his tongue with hers. She buried her hands in his hair, pulling gently. He placed one hand around her waist and the other on the back of her neck and pulled her further into the passionate embrace.  
"Hey!" they heard a voice from behind them. "What about me?"  
Bam had been watching the entire scene, blue eyes wide.  
Destiny pulled away from Ville a little reluctantly and smiled mischievously at Bam. Ville watched as she pressed her lips down onto his friend's. He didn't feel jealous as he had watching her sit on Jimmy Pop's lap earlier. On the contrary, he was immensely turned on.  
Bam's hands roamed over her body, cupping her breasts and rubbing her buttocks as their mouths remained locked together. Ville moved closer and ran his hand up Destiny's leg which was barely covered by her black mini-skirt and began to kiss down her neck. He heard her moan softly, still not breaking the long, passionate kiss with Bam.  
Ville began to run his hands over the rest of her body, taking in every perfect curve. Bam finally broke their kiss, gasping for air. She turned her head and locked her lips with Ville's once more, Bam taking over the kissing of her neck. After a few minutes, Bam grabbed the bottom of her tank top and proceeded to lift it over her head, breaking her kiss with Ville momentarily. Ville's hands snaked downwards and began pulling down her mini-skirt, until it too was lying in a heap on the floor with her shirt.  
She was now left in her lacy black bra and matching thong, her hair in total disarray. Bam and Ville grinned as they began to disrobe themselves. Once the two of them were totally nude, Destiny slipped herself out of her underwear, grinning drunkenly.  
Ville was sitting in front of her, so she got up on her knees and bent over, her pale ass sticking up in the air, almost directly in Bam's face. Ville gasped as she took him between her full, pink lips and went to work on him with her diligent tongue.  
Behind her, Bam continued to caress her ass, before raising himself up onto his knees and sliding himself inside her. She moaned, Ville's cock still halfway down the back of her throat. The vibrating sensation made Ville gasp again.  
Bam continued to thrust harder and faster, pushing Destiny further down Ville's length with each stroke. He felt her begin to tighten around him as her climax neared. He increased his speed until her muscles clenched and she threw herself back onto him completely, crying out in a low voice.  
Grinning, Bam switched places with Ville.  
As Ville entered her, he sighed with pleasure. She was better than he could ever have expected.  
Destiny gasped. Ville knew he was bigger than Bam. Bigger than most, really. It had never been something he bragged about though. He thrust away for a solid fifteen minutes when he looked up at his friend's face as Destiny worked on him with her very talented tongue.  
"Ohhh, man!" Bam moaned. "I'm gonna cum!"  
"Me too." Ville breathed.  
Destiny, her mouth still full of Bam, made a noise to indicate that she too was very close.  
Another five minutes and they all found release simultaneously. Bam grunted, Ville moaned and Destiny let out an ear-piercing scream. They then collapsed in a heap on her bunk, still naked and, for the most part, joined together. Passing out had never felt so good...


	6. Feeling the Sting

Feeling the Sting.

When Ville awoke the next morning he could barely think straight thanks to the constant pounding in his head. He could tell that, as hangovers went, this one was going to be an absolute blinder.  
He groaned and attempted to pull himself off the bunk, but merely fell back down, cradling his throbbing head. It was then that he realized he was totally naked. Confused, he glanced around. There, next to him on the bunk, was Destiny and Bam. Both of them were also nude.  
Ville's green eyes widened as he tried to remember exactly what happened the previous night. When, after a few painful moments of thinking, some of the memories came rushing back, he gasped loudly, hurting his own head and waking one of the sleeping forms beside him.  
Destiny sat up, her hands pressed over her eyes.  
"Jesus, Ville, what happened?" she asked groggily.  
"Does anything seem wrong with this picture?" he asked her frantically.  
Slowly, she removed her hands from her eyes, first taking in Ville's disheveled nakedness, then her own. Finally, her brown eyes rested on the sleeping Bam and widened.  
"Oh, my God!" she exclaimed, horrified. "We didn't! Did we?"  
Ville dropped his head into his hands.  
"I'm not sure. All I remember is the three of us kissing. I don't know if it went any further, or if we passed out before it could."  
Destiny remained silent as she too tried to remember the events of Bam's party.  
"I don't remember either." she whispered finally. "Should we wake Bam and ask him if he remembers anything?"  
Ville nodded, and Destiny leaned over and shook the sleeping skateboarder awake. Sitting up, he groaned.  
"You better have a good Goddamn reason for gettin' me up at the butt-crack of dawn." he growled, his blue eyes still tightly closed against the sunlight streaming through the window of the trailer.  
"D'you remember what happened last night?" Destiny demanded urgently.  
"Uh... Kinda, but not really." he said, slowly opening his eyes. "Holy shit, dude, why are we all naked?"  
Ville shrugged.  
"That's what we're trying to figure out. Any ideas?"  
Bam thought for a moment and grinned.  
"Well, I guess this means I can cross 'Have a threesome' off my 'Things to do Before I Die' list." he said cheekily.  
Ville's eyes widened and Destiny's jaw dropped.  
"Oh, my God, we totally did not! Did we?" she asked him desperately.  
Bam nodded.  
"Yeah. I just remembered it then. We came in here because it was getting cold and then...yeah." he finished, shrugging.  
Destiny and Ville stared at him, horrified.  
The trailer was silent. The most awkward silence any of them had ever experienced. All of a sudden, the door burst open.  
"Ladies and Gentlemen of the... Woah!" Dico froze mid-sentence as he noticed the three of them sitting on Destiny's bunk, completely naked.  
Bam quickly covered himself with his hands but Ville, who was always the perfect gentleman, grabbed the blanket and threw it over the mortified Destiny before bothering to shield his own flesh from view.  
Dico merely stared, his mouth gaping open.  
"I... Uh, you know what? Never mind." he said finally, closing the door and walking away.  
Bam, Ville and Destiny looked at one another and then did the only thing that was left for them to do.  
They laughed. For how long, they didn't know. They just laughed until they couldn't breathe. Their sides were hurting, their faces were tear-stained, but still they laughed, oblivious to the confused men outside, staring at the trailer like it might blow up at any moment.

Once the laughing fit had subsided, Ville, Bam and Destiny cautiously made their way out of the trailer. The guys were all smirking at them relentlessly. Destiny was blushing slightly, and both Ville and Bam had put sunglasses on to hide their eyes, which kept shooting sideways glances at the young woman between them.  
Bam couldn't help but stare at her. She was stunning. Last night had served to give him a whole new appreciation of her beauty. He was sure now that this was the woman for him. She was all he needed, squeezed into a gorgeous little 5" package. He had fooled himself into thinking that Missy was the woman for him for years, but now he knew different. And he wanted everybody else to know it too.

Ville was humiliated. Not only had he now compromised his position in Destiny's affection, he had also gone and had a threesome with his best friend of several years. Threesomes were not for him. He had tried it a few time in his teenage years and decided that sex should be a very intimate, loving act between two people who had deep feelings for one another. What was more, he really did like Destiny. She was beautiful, smart, mature, funny, easygoing, clever, witty and everything else he thought was important and attractive in a woman. And now, he didn't even know how he would face her again after what they had done. He was going to have to keep his distance from now on, otherwise she would think that he was only after the sex which, to be fair, was mind blowing. He had ruined yet another relationship and this one hadn't even gotten started yet. He had come here to escape from his problems with the opposite sex, but instead, he had just walked into more of them.

Destiny felt a tugging on her arm. She turned around to find Bam pulling her out of her seat and a little bit away from the trailers.  
"Des." he said when he finally got her far enough away from everyone else.  
Bam was the first to have given her the nickname 'Des', and she kind of liked it. Scotty had used to call her 'Tina', a name which she couldn't stand.  
She looked up at him enquiringly.  
"Uh..." he trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck. "I was wondering... Look, Des, I know that I just separated from my wife, but here's the thing. I really like you. And not just because of last night. I'll understand if you don't feel the same, but I'd really like it if you'd come out with me sometime. Like on a...date."  
Destiny was silent for a moment, trying to figure out how best to say what needed to be said.  
"Look, Bam." she said finally. "You're an awesome guy, and under any other circumstances, I'd totally say yes, but, I mean, Ville invited me out here, and I'm kinda into him. I just wanna see where he and I go and if we can make something. I'm so sorry, Bam."  
And she truly was. It killed her to watch Bam's face fall, like she had just ripped his very heart out of his chest.  
"Like I said, Des, it's cool. But if you ever change your mind, I'll always be available to you." he said, trying not to let her see how much her rejection had hurt.  
Impulsively, she embraced him.  
"If I ever do change my mind, you'll be the first to know." she assured him. "I promise."

Ville watched as she returned from talking to Bam. He wondered what they had been discussing. He glanced away as he realized that she was making a beeline for him.  
"Ville?"  
Her sweet voice rang through his ears and it truly hurt him to know that he was going to have to make this conversation and any future ones unbearably brief.  
"Yes, darling?" he said casually, not looking at her.  
"Could I speak with you? In private?"  
"I don't think so, love." he told her, not looking at her. "I'm far too hung over to even consider moving at the moment."  
"Oh." she said uncertainly. "Well, I guess here will do. I was just wondering, when we go back to Castle Bam, would you like to go out have dinner or something some time?"  
Ville flinched inwardly. He had hoped she wouldn't ask. It was going to kill him to say no.  
"Sorry, love. I can't." he forced himself to reply.  
"Oh. Um, okay. Nothing like a little rejection first thing in the morning." she said in her customary flippant manner, even though he could tell that inside, she was hurt by his casual way of waving her off.  
He watched her walk off, every instinct screaming for him to call after her and tell her how he felt. But he knew that right now that could only do more harm than good.

Destiny tried not to let the blatant rejection sting her, but she couldn't help it. It was the first time she had ever asked a man out. She could safely say she wouldn't be doing it again anytime soon. She felt terrible for how she had treated Bam this morning now that she knew how it felt.  
She couldn't help but be a little confused. When Ville had called her when she was at home in LA, he had sounded anxious to see her. She thought that maybe, upon getting to know her, he had realized that she was not his type. Or maybe it had something to do with last night. Frustrated with herself, she stomped into her and Ville's trailer and slammed the door. Why had she ever thought this was a good idea?


	7. Realizations

Realizations

And so the week passed with Destiny avoiding Bam, Ville avoiding Destiny and Bam avoiding Ville. Everyone could sense the tension between the three of them, but no one quite knew what to say. Destiny had withdrawn and barely spoke to anyone unless she had to. Bam had become quiet and emotional, often bursting into tears at random intervals. Of course, he never did this in front of anyone, but they all knew. And Ville had become overly social, going out with a different girl every night and more often than not, having them sleep over. Everyone could see what this was doing to Destiny. She no longer bothered to do her hair or makeup and her eyes were often red and puffy. It could have merely been put down to lack of sleep, but her tear-stained cheeks gave it away. Dunn tried to talk to her on several occasions, but she always clammed up and refused to speak about anything other than the superficial. Bam was upset too. Not because of Destiny's rejection, but because seeing her this way hurt him. Plus, he was angry at Ville. Bam hated having to watch the girl of his dreams fall for another man, but what made it worse was that Ville didn't seem to want her and it was making her more and more depressed every day. Ville just didn't seem to see what he was doing to the poor girl.  
Eventually, everyone moved back into the now Missy-free environment of Castle Bam. Destiny spent most of her time shut up in her room, Bam was always in the Pirate Bar getting drunk and Ville was rarely home. Finally, the guys decided enough was enough. They all got together and decided that Dunn, the most rational member of the crew, would talk to them.

Destiny didn't know what time it was when somebody knocked on her door. She hadn't been keeping track of the time lately. She didn't respond to the knocking but, nevertheless, the door was pushed open anyway.  
"Des? Are you awake?"  
It was Dunn. She mumbled something incoherent into her pillow to let him know that she was indeed awake and he stepped into the room, shutting the door behind him. She felt the mattress dip slightly as he took a seat on the end of her bed.  
"Look, Des, enough is enough. Whatever is going on between you and Bam and Ville has to end. No one can take the tension anymore, honey." he said firmly yet sympathetically  
Destiny was silent for a moment, choosing her words carefully.  
"Dunn." she said finally. "You're a guy."  
He chuckled.  
"Last time I checked."  
"What does it mean when a guy invites you to 'spend time with him', then decides to completely blow you off and be an asshole about it?" she asked, her brown eyes staring questioningly into his green ones.  
He was silent, thinking how best to word his response.  
"I think it means that he's worried that you don't see him in the way that he wants, so he's not giving you the chance to hurt him." he said finally.  
"But I DO see him in that way!" Destiny cried.  
"Then tell him, honey. He's not gonna know otherwise. Men are not the brightest of sparks, not even the great Ville Valo."  
The room fell silent once more.  
"Thanks, Dunn." Destiny whispered, barely audible.  
"No problem. It's what I'm here for. Consider me like your big sister." he said sympathetically.  
Destiny threw her arms around his shoulders and pulled him into a tight embrace. It was the first spontaneous move she had made in days. Dunn smiled into her hair and then let her go, watching her leave the room in search of Ville.

"Ville? Can I talk to you?"  
Ville glanced up from the desk in his room where he was hard at work with new songs and over at the door. It was Destiny.  
"Sorry, love, I'm actually quite busy at the moment, so if you could just-"  
"Don't give me that shit!" she cut him off forcefully, sitting down cross-legged on the edge of his bed. "Just hear me out. Please?"  
Ville sighed. He had been hoping to avoid this. As much as he truly did like her, he couldn't allow himself to become involved with her. Not after the events of Bam's party.  
"What is it, love?" he asked resignedly.  
"Look." she began. "You've been totally blowing me off this past week. Don't try to deny it. You and I were fine before...that night, and now things are totally fucked between us. And, I just wanna say that if you're being this way because you're scared that I don't feel the way you want me to about you, you don't have to be. Ville, I'm totally into you. Why else would I have been acting the way I have been?"  
She had been unable to look him in the eyes throughout her speech, but now, she glanced up to find him with a weird smirk on his face.  
"Love." he said with a chuckle. "This has nothing to do with any of that. I invited you here to spend time with me. On closer inspection, you aren't my type. It has nothing to do with Bam's party."  
He was lying through his teeth to her and it was killing him. He watched as her face fell and her beautiful brown eyes filled with tears. She was silent, apparently too humiliated to speak. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out. A single tear simply rolled down her cheek and she got up and ran from his room, her sobs echoing back to him down the hallway, making his already fragile heart break just that little bit more. What kind of monster was he?

"Des? Are you okay?" Bam asked as Destiny approached him in the Pirate Bar, her eyes red from crying.  
She nodded.  
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just wondering if that date was still on the cards." she said in a somewhat shaky voice.  
His eyebrows shot up and his face split into a grin.  
"Of course it is!" he assured her enthusiastically.  
"Great." she said with a forced smile. "When and where?"  
Bam thought for a moment.  
"Dinner.' he said finally. "Tonight. You and me at Antonio's."  
She continued to smile.  
"Sounds awesome. I'll go get ready."  
As she turned and retreated, leaving Bam to revel in victory.

"Woah, Des!" someone called after her as she made her way back up the stairs.  
She glanced over her shoulder. It was Dunn. She didn't stop, merely kept making her way back to her room to shed a few more tears and get ready for her date with Bam, but he caught her arm before she had quite made it.  
"What?" she asked him.  
"When you asked me for guy advice, I thought you meant Ville, not Bam!" he exclaimed.  
She shrugged.  
"I did. Turns out you were wrong about him. He's just a heartkiller." she said, a cynical turn to her pink lips as she quoted Ville's own song.  
Dunn sighed as Destiny entered her bedroom. This was going to be a lot harder than he thought.

"Hey, asshole!"  
Ville glanced up from his desk once more, quite annoyed at all the interruptions.  
"What is it, Dunn? I'm fucking busy." he snapped at the scruffy blonde man standing defiantly in his doorway.  
"What the fuck is your problem? How could you do this to Des?" Dunn demanded.  
"She's a big girl, Dunn, she can take it." he replied nonchalantly, picking up his pen once more.  
"I'm sure she can, Valo, but you're lying to her! This whole fucking house can see that you're crazy about her!"  
Ville was silent. Couldn't argue with the truth, after all. Dunn knew this.  
"See?" he exclaimed. "You don't even have a fucking answer! Why are you doing this to her? She's a good fucking kid and she doesn't deserve it!"  
Ville sighed.  
"Look, Dunn. After what happened at Bam's party, I don't want to get too close. I don't want her thinking I'm just after the sex."  
Dunn slapped his forehead.  
"She doesn't fucking think that, you idiot! Well, she probably does now that you've blown her off once and for all, but she certainly didn't before. The fact that she came in here to confront you should have been proof of that, you Finnish dumbass!" he yelled.  
Ville's eyes widened. That thought hadn't even crossed his mind.  
"I've got to go talk to her!" he said to no one in particular.  
He stood up, only to have Dunn place a hand on his chest and push him back down.  
"Too late now, Romeo." he told him. "She's about to walk out the door on a date with Bam. He asked her out after the party and she turned him down because she was into you, but then when you told her you weren't interested, she went and accepted."  
Ville tried to stand up again.  
"I can still stop her!"  
Dunn pushed him down once more.  
"Are you retarded?" he asked. "You do that, then not only do you put her in an awkward position, but you'd kill Bam. He's really into her. Face it, Ville. You fucked up and missed out. All you can do is be there to pick up the pieces if things don't work out."  
Ville knew Dunn was right. He glanced back down at his notebook as tears began to form on the surface of his green eyes. At least now he has some new material.


	8. Mending Bridges

Mending Bridges

Since their date, Destiny and Bam had become a couple, of sorts. She wasn't miserable, but nor was she truly happy. Bam was a nice guy, but he wasn't Ville.  
If possible, the impossible Finn had become even more distant and unfathomable. He scarcely ever came out of his room, and when he did, it was only to get something to eat or go to the bathroom. He never spoke to anyone, or even looked at Destiny or Bam. Des could understand his reluctance to be around her, after all he had made a dreadful miscalculation by inviting her here, but his withdrawal from Bam confused her. The usually inseparable pair scarcely even inhabited the same room these days.  
Destiny's two-week stay had been extended. She was now well into her second month at Castle Bam. The press had long since gotten wind of 'Margera's New Missy', as they had dubbed her. Although they knew of her existence and her name, so far she had managed to keep the secrets of her past on the down-low. But, nevertheless, every time she went to the store, she saw herself on the front of countless magazines, her brown eyes shaded by her over-sized sunglasses, her brow furrowed in consternation and a smiling Bam on her arm. Whenever she and Bam left the hose together, she was ambushed by flashbulbs and Bam's screaming fans, cursing her for having gotten the man of their dreams. And, of course, Missy had resurfaced, selling her story to the highest bidder, telling everyone how Bam had been an abusive alcoholic and how Destiny was nothing but a money-grubbing gold-digger, who would trick Bam into marrying her and then leave with half of his fortune. Destiny tried to ignore it, but she wasn't used to the attention. Bam had been in the limelight for years and merely accepted it all, but she had never been in the media spotlight before. The thought of 'Destiny McMahon' turning into a household name was unnerving, especially when she had done nothing to deserve the scrutiny in the first place.

The house was quiet, for a change. Destiny cross-legged on the floor of the Pirate Bar in an over-sized t-shirt and a pair of leggings, a bowl of Cheerios in her hands and the daily paper on the floor in front of her. She loved these brief moments of tranquility at Castle Bam. While she was never averse to joining in on the shenanigans, it was nice to be able to hear herself think every once in a while.  
She glanced up as she heard footsteps descending the stairs. She had assumed that the house was empty. Obviously not.  
She merely turned her attention back to the paper, stuffing another spoonful of Cheerios into her mouth and then wiping away the milk that dribbled down her chin with the back of her hand.  
"Oh.." she heard a voice from behind her. "I thought everyone was out."  
She glanced around, startled, almost spilling her cereal down her front. Ville stood at the door to the Pirate Bar, glancing around him, looking anywhere but at Destiny.  
"Nope. I'm still here." she said nonchalantly, even though on the inside she was jumping for joy that he was actually speaking to her again.  
"What you got there?" he asked after a momentary silence, gesturing to her bowl of cereal.  
"Cheerios." she clarified, spooning another heap into her mouth.  
"Oh. Is there any left?"  
"M hm. In the kitchen." she said, pointing with her spoon in the direction of the cabinet containing the box of Cheerios.  
Without another word, he wandered into the kitchen and fixed himself a bowlful, before making his way back into the Pirate Bar.  
"Mind if I join you?" he asked tentatively.  
"Not at all." she replied, refusing to allow him to see just how happy the sound of his voice made her.  
After the way he had so casually blown her off, there was no way she would forgive him that easy.  
He came and sat on the floor next to her and a long, awkward silence ensued. Destiny stared down at her paper, not really seeing the words that were printed there, but instead waiting for him to break the silence.  
"So..." he trailed off finally.  
"So?" she asked, still not looking up.  
"I was kind of an arsehole."  
Finally she glanced up, one eyebrow cocked.  
"Kind of?"  
"Alright." he admitted. "I was a complete arsehole."  
"Yes. Yes you were. Apology accepted." Destiny agreed, spooning the last of the Cheerios into her open mouth and then raising the bowl to her lips to drain the remaining milk from the bottom of the bowl.  
Ville chuckled when she looked back up.  
"What?" she asked, truly confused.  
"You've got a milk mustache, love." he said through his laughter.  
"Oh." she replied, blushing a dull pink and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "Is it gone now?"  
"No, you missed a bit. Right there." said Ville pointing to a spot on his own face.  
"Here?"  
"No, other side."  
"How 'bout now?"  
"Lower, love."  
"Now?"  
Ville chuckled.  
"Come here, love. I'll get it."  
She leaned forward, allowing Ville to wipe the milk from her face with his sleeve. As she got closer, she noticed that the skin around his beautiful green eyes was stretched and puffy.  
"Have you not been sleeping very well?" she asked, sitting back in her original position.  
Ville ran a hand through his hair and sighed.  
"Sadly, no. I've always been a bit of an insomniac, but it seems to have gotten a bit worse lately. I suppose it's because I'm not drinking anymore."  
Destiny nodded in agreement, but couldn't help but think that there was something he wasn't telling her.  
"Well, I'm a light sleeper. If you ever need someone to keep you company at night, feel free to come wake me up." she told him, pulling a cigarette from her packet and offering his one, which he accepted.  
It was silent while they both lit up and sat for a moment, taking deep drags on their cigarettes and allowing the smoke to drift from their mouths in lazy spirals.  
"So, where is everyone?" Ville asked finally.  
Destiny shrugged.  
"Bam had to go to a Demo. Novak and Dunn went with him. I got no idea where the others are."  
"Why didn't you go with Bam?" he asked, taking another draw on his cigarette.  
She shrugged again.  
"The publicity is kinda pissing me off." she admitted, exhaling a cloud of smoke into Ville's face, causing his to cough. "Sorry."  
"It's okay, love. And what do you mean, publicity?"  
She looked at him with raised eyebrows.  
"Come on Ville. I'm Bam Margera's girlfriend. I'm all over the magazine covers in West Chester. It's really annoying. I'm not a public person. I'm nobody. Just a woman with a troubled past who's trying to move on."  
He nodded.  
"Well, why don't you end it if it annoys you so bad?"  
"Because." she sighed. "Bam's a great guy. It's not his fault. I'd feel like a bitch if I used that as an excuse for leaving him."  
As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she regretted speaking. Ville pounced on it.  
"But you do want to leave him."  
"Yes. No. I don't know!" she exclaimed, burying her face in her hands.  
"Love, I know I'm the last person who should be giving relationship advice, but if you're unhappy, you shouldn't be with him." he said, putting a comforting arms around her shoulders.  
"But I dunno if I am unhappy!" she cried exasperatedly.  
"He smiled at her kindly.  
"In my experience," he said, "If you have to ask yourself whether you're unhappy, then you're definitely unhappy. Happiness isn't something you question. You just feel it. And if you aren't feeling it, then maybe it's time to move on. Now, if you'll excuse me darling, nature calls."

As he left Destiny sitting in the Pirate Bar, pondering his words, Ville felt a slight stab of guilt, though he wasn't sure why. It wasn't as if he was deliberately trying to convince her to leave Bam. He was merely giving her advice on how she was feeling. It wouldn't be his fault if she broke up with Bam after realizing that he was right.  
'Ah, but you wouldn't exactly sympathize with Bam if she were to leave him.' said his conscience as he entered the bathroom and stood in front of the toilet, unzipping his fly.  
"Shut up." he hissed to himself.  
He knew that what he had said to Destiny wasn't exactly right, but nor was it wrong. If she was unhappy with Bam, he didn't want her to keep fooling herself. The fact that Ville would benefit from their breakup made no difference at all. Did it? 


	9. The Master Plan

The Master Plan

What Ville had said to her had made Destiny think. For two long weeks, she did nothing but sit in the room she now shared with Bam and devote hours to thinking over her relationship with Bam. Ville had noticed that she was unhappy. And while he wasn't interested in her in the way she would have liked, they had become close friends since their chat in the Pirate Bar, and she trusted his judgment. She knew what she needed to do.  
She glanced up as the door opened and Bam walked in, sweaty and exhausted from skating with Novak.  
"Hey baby." he said, walking over to where she sat on the bed and kissing her chastely on the lips.  
"Hey." she replied, returning his kiss, but not looking into his beautiful blue eyes.  
He seemed to notice how distant she was.  
"Something on your mind?" he asked her, pulling his closet open.  
She said nothing, merely watched as he pulled off his sweat-soaked Element t-shirt and threw it onto the floor, selecting a fresh HIM shirt and pulling it over his head. He glanced around at her.  
"Babe?"  
She started, jerked from her thoughts once more.  
"Hmm?"  
"I asked if there was something on your mind." he repeated.  
She sat silently for a moment, contemplating how best to say what had to be said.  
"Uh... Bam?"  
He poked his head out from the bathroom where he had gone to freshen himself up.  
"Yeah?"  
"I think... I think maybe we rushed into this." she said hurriedly, all in one breath.  
He merely stood and stared at her for a moment. He then let out a long sigh and walked back out into the bedroom, sitting on the bed beside her.  
"I can't pretend I didn't see this coming." he said simply.  
She looked up at him, surprised.  
"What d'you mean?" she asked, eyebrows raised.  
"Look, I know it was never me you wanted. And maybe it was selfish of me to make you rush into this. But I really like you, Des. You gotta understand that."  
She nodded slowly.  
"I do understand that Bam, and I really like you too. I... I'm just..."  
"Not sure if I'm who you want." he finished for her, staring her directly in her big, brown eyes.  
She nodded again, ashamed that she had to be the one to make him feel this way.  
"I get it, Des. I see you and Ville together. And I know he was the one you came here for. I guess I just wanted to see if we could make it work."  
"Under different circumstances, maybe it could have." she said quietly. "I'm so sorry, Bam."  
He pulled her into a tight hug. She buried her face into his shoulder as the tears started to flow.  
"Don't be sorry, Des. I just wanna see you happy. And we'll always be best friends."  
Destiny looked up into his eyes and smiled.  
"I know we will."  
She stood up off the bed and smoothed down her short denim skirt, unsure of what to do next. Bam smacked her on the ass.  
"What are you waiting for, princess? Go get your man!"

Watching her leave, Bam felt his heart break just a little bit. He had truly thought that he could make it work with Destiny. She was his dream girl. But he knew he could never compete with Ville for her affections. The dreamy Finn would win every time and Bam knew it. It made him sad, in a way. Ville was his best friend, and right now he was jealous enough to throw him out and tell him to piss off back to Finland. First Missy and now Destiny. It just wasn't fair the way that all of Bam's love interests always chose his exponentially better looking best friend.  
Bam sighed and pulled himself up off his bed. The only thing he could think of to try and cure a broken heart was to torture Novak.  
He made his way down towards Dreamseller's room, passing Ville's on the way. The door was slightly ajar and two voices could be heard coming from within. Bam leaned closer to the door in order to hear what was being said.  
"Well, love, I did tell you he wasn't right for you. You did the right thing."  
Bam's blood began to boil. He had known all along that Ville still harboured feelings for Destiny, but never in a million years had he dreamed that the devious bastard would sink so low as to intentionally get Des to break up with him.  
And that was when Bam's Master Plan began to formulate.

Ville smiled. Destiny sat before him on his bed, telling him how she had taken his advice and ended things with Bam. A small part of him still felt guilty, but a larger a larger part of him was elated. Of course, he wasn't about to rush in, but in time he would confess his feelings. However, for the moment, he was content with being close friends with Destiny and getting to know her on a far more personal level.  
She truly was the most beautiful woman he had ever met. Her brown eyes seemed to sparkle. Her pale skin was smooth. Her hair was shiny and the colours contrasted perfectly. Her lips were pink and perfectly rounded. She was perfection to him.  
"So you're sure it was the right thing to do?" she asked him.  
"Of course, darling. You weren't happy. You had to get out. You've been unhappy for long enough."  
She was silent for a moment, seemingly contemplating his words.  
"You're not just talking about Bam anymore, are you?" she asked, glancing into his green eyes.  
He shook his head.  
"No, love, I'm not. I know you've had a tough run."  
She chuckled bitterly.  
"You don't even know the half of it."  
He shrugged.  
"Maybe you should enlighten me sometime?"  
"Sometime. But not today. Right now, I just need sleep. I'll see you in the morning, Mister Valo."  
With that, she planted a light kiss on his cheek and then she was gone.

"Dude, you know what to do right?"  
Bam was meticulously going over the details of the first stage of the plan he had formulated last night with his accomplice, a disheveled and naked Novak.  
"Dude, do I look like a fuckin' retard?" Novak snorted, scratching his ass.  
"Honestly? Yeah, you do. But if you fuck this up, I swear to God, I will fucking end you."  
"Dude, why do you care so much?" Novak asked.  
Bam shrugged.  
"Just shut the fuck up and do as you're told or you're sleeping out in the tree-top casino tonight. Got it?"  
Novak merely nodded and began to get into position. He slowly inched Destiny's door open, careful not to wake her, and waited for Bam's signal.  
"Good morning, Valo." he heard his friend say from downstairs in the Pirate Bar.  
This was it.

"No need to shout, Bam Bam, I'm just here. How are you this morning?"  
Ville yawned and switched on the coffee maker, lighting a cigarette as he did so.  
"Can't complain." Bam shrugged. "I'm livin' free an' easy again."  
Ville nodded.  
"So I heard. You're not upset?"  
Bam shook his head.  
"Nah. From what she said, I guess she wanted to play the field a little more."  
Ville tried to hide the confused look on his face. Destiny had told him exactly what she had said to Bam, and he hadn't gotten that definition at all.  
He jerked his head around as he heard Destiny's door open, expecting to see her gorgeous face any second. But instead, Novak made an appearance, naked and sleepy-looking.  
"What the fuck were you doing in Destiny's room, you pervert?" he asked before he could stop himself.  
Novak merely grinned and winked at him.  
"Wow, she sure doesn't waste time." said Bam nonchalantly.  
Ville remained silent, but his head was spinning. Surely not? Surely she didn't sleep with Nudie Novak, of all people?  
"I can see why you wanted her so bad, dude." Novak said to Bam as he sat down and lit up a cigarette of his own. "She's a fuckin' wildcat!"  
In spite of himself, Ville's jaw dropped open.  
"Aw, whatsamatter Ville? Jealous?" he said, infuriating the Finn even more.  
As he opened his mouth to reply, Destiny's door opened again. This time it was her that stepped out onto the landing and made her way downstairs, fully clothed and rubbing sleep from her eyes.  
"Good morning fellas." she said brightly.  
"Mornin'" said Bam, nodding in her general direction  
"Wassup?" Novak said, slapping her on the ass.  
She punched him in the arm and went about fixing breakfast. Nobody raised the subject of her and Novak, so Ville chose to ignore it as well. Even when they were finally alone together, he tried to act as normal as possible.

"Did you get any sleep last night?" Destiny asked Ville, who looked worn and tired as always.  
"Not much." he replied simply. "You?"  
"Oh, a bit. But, yeah, not a whole lot." she said evasively.  
In truth, her sleep had been awful. The dreams had come back at full force and she rarely got a full night of uninterrupted sleep anymore.  
Ville raised his eyebrows at her and took a sip of his coffee. She was a little confused at this gesture, but she let it pass.  
However, as the hours passed Ville continued to be distant with her, giving short answers and not really seeming interested in what she had to say. She went to bed that night thoroughly confused. And people said women were strange creatures! Clearly, they had never met this particular man.


	10. Going Home

Going Home

Ville had almost stopped talking to Destiny completely. He had been prepared to write off her night with Novak as a one-time indiscretion, but on the mornings that followed, Raab, Dico, Glomb, Tim O'Connor and a few other people that Ville didn't recognize had exited Destiny's room in various states of undress, talking about how good she was in bed. It was slowly driving him insane. He had literally been mere days away from telling her how he felt when she had taken it upon herself to turn into the world's biggest slut. He wished he had said something sooner, but he hadn't. And now he had to deal with things the way they were.  
Destiny never said anything about her late night visitors. She merely went about her days as if it hadn't happened, making no mention of who had been in her bed the previous night. Whenever Ville asked her how she had slept, her only reply was 'Oh, I didn't really sleep much', which infuriated him even more than if she would have just told him the truth.  
He had also begun to find very suggestive text messages on her cell phone. Not that he was going through the device looking for them, but this was Castle Bam, and anything that was left in view was fair game for Bam and his minions. One day, as Ville sat on the deck smoking, Bam had come running out to him, his trademark smirk firmly in place, waving the small black cell phone around, before shoving it in Ville's face and demanding he read the message on the screen. When Ville refused, Bam simply read the message aloud to him.  
'Hey babe', it said, 'Can't wait til you get back to LA. Miss our steamy sex so much. Love G.'  
Ville had no idea who 'G' was, but he hated the man anyway.  
Bam had then gone on to read out some more explicit messages, all from different men. Eventually, Ville had enough and stormed inside, locking himself in his room, refusing to come out for the rest of the night.  
Now, almost a week on from the text message incident, Ville was seated at the kitchen counter, cigarette in one hand, coffee in the other. Bam and the others were out and Destiny was in her bedroom, singing loudly to 'In the Shadows'.  
It was early afternoon and the sun was shining. A gentle breeze blew through the kitchen window, tousling Ville's hair. He made an irritated face as he moved a lock out of his eyes for the third time and then crammed his beanie onto his head, preventing a repeat occurrence.  
Sighing, he opened up his laptop. He never really did anything online. The internet bored him. But from time to time, he would jump onto a computer and begin typing whatever was on his mind into a search engine, seeing what came up. This time, he keyed in two words: Destiny McMahon. He had refrained from Googling her so far, as he really didn't want to take the stalker route in getting to know her, but this woman was slowly succeeding in driving him insane. He had to know who she really was.  
A few random, meaningless sites popped up featuring women who shared the same name as Des, but then, one caught Ville's eye.  
'SeXXXy Destiny McMahon. Naked and Uncensored.'  
Ville hovered over the name of the site for a second before clicking on it. A few weeks ago he would have passed it without a second glance, thinking that the woman on that site could never be the Destiny he knew, but now, what with her activities of the past few weeks, he just wasn't so sure anymore.  
The website took a moment to load, but when it finally did, Ville felt what remained of his heart shatter. There she was, in all her glory. Naked, spread-legged, wearing the most suggestive of expressions. Now he knew it for sure. He had made a mistake.

Bam felt a slight stab of guilt as he secretly watched his friend's face change as he viewed the pictures of Destiny that had not existed until a few hours ago. But the guilt was fleeting. Ville had ruined Bam's relationship with Destiny. He deserved this. However, Frantz, it seemed, did not share his opinion.  
"I still cannot fucking believe you had me do that, Bam! When you asked me to do some nude mock-ups of Des, you said they were for a harmless prank. Not an attempt to ruin a young girl's reputation and break your best friend's heart! Plus, she probably has family! How do you think they would feel if they saw that?" the ponytailed man exclaimed.  
Bam shrugged.  
"The bastard had it coming. As for Des, she's just a casualty of war. And she hasn't spoken to her family in ten years."  
Frantz looked as if he wanted to hit Bam.  
"Who cares if she hasn't seen them in ten years, you prick! If, in the future, she decides to contact them, what the fuck do you think they'll say when they realize where they've seen their little girl before? And as for this whole 'casualty of war' shit, that has always been your fucking problem. You'll do absolutely anything to achieve your own selfish goals, regardless of who you may be hurting in the process. Well, you know what, Bam? I'll have nothing else to do with this. Call me when you grow up."  
And just like that, he turned and walked out the front door, leaving Bam alone with his thoughts. It pissed him off that everyone always saw him as the bad guy. Sure, he knew what he was doing was pretty morally bankrupt, but Ville deserved it for sticking his nose in where it was neither needed or wanted.  
A movement in the room before him brought him back to reality. Ville had swiftly stood up, knocking his chair over, laptop in his arms and was heading up the stairs to Destiny's room. Oh fuck!

Still singing at the top of her voice, Des didn't hear the insistent knocking on her door at first. But, eventually, the song ended and finally she noticed the loud bangs coming from the hallway. She threw her door open only to find Ville on the other side of it with his laptop cradled in his arms. She swallowed. He looked livid.  
"What the fuck is this?" he screamed at her, almost throwing the laptop in her face.  
Destiny struggled to turn the screen around the right way. When she finally did, she gasped and began to splutter.  
"I...Th...That's not... I would never... Ville, you have to..." she trailed off, unable to finish any of the sentences she had started.  
There on the screen before her she saw photos of a girl that was supposedly her in the most explicit of poses.  
"What, Destiny? It's not enough to fuck three quarters of the CKY crew and every dick back in LA! You've gotta let pervvy wankers all over the world gawk at you as well!" he screamed, his face red with anger.  
"What the fuck do you mean, three quarters of the CKY crew?" Destiny exclaimed, finally finding her voice. "And how can I be fucking anyone back home? I had only been out of rehab for a week before you called me! And that is NOT me!"  
She pointed to the picture of the girl on the laptop.  
Ville scoffed.  
"Oh, right. So it's just some other girl named Destiny McMahon who happens to look exactly like you?"  
Destiny was beginning to get mad. She hated being called a liar.  
"For such a good fucking friend, you do not know me AT ALL! If you did, you would look a little fucking closer and notice the subtle differences!"  
"What subtle fucking differences?"  
Destiny merely shrugged.  
"No, get fucked! You fucking figure it out! It's not my job to convince you! And what the fuck do you care anyway! It's not like you think about me in that way, so why the fuck do you care if anyone else does!"  
Ville didn't say anything. He merely stood their, his blood boiling.  
"Fine, don't fucking say anything! Just get the FUCK out of my room!"  
She shoved him back through the door and into the hallway, slamming the heavy wooden door in his face for the last time.

"Dude. What the fuck was that?" asked Novak as Ville stormed out onto the deck.  
"Shut the fuck up and mind your own fucking business, Novak!" Ville barked at him.  
Novak shut up. Ville didn't often get mad, but when he did, everyone just shut up and left him alone.  
He sat on the deck for what felt like hours, chain-smoking his way through three packets of cigarettes before he heard her voice.  
"BAM!"  
Ville didn't turn around, but he heard the footsteps, indicating that Bam was coming to her aid.  
"What's up?"  
"Take me to the airport."  
"Why?"  
At this point, Ville turned around in his deck chair. Destiny was standing in Bam's lounge room, bags at her feet, brown eyes staring directly into Ville's green ones.  
"I'm going home."


	11. Two and Two

Two and Two...

After coming home from dropping Destiny off at the airport, Bam did not say anything to Ville, which surprised the Finnish man. He had been expecting a barrage of abuse along the lines of 'You fucking asshole, what did you say to her, why can't you just be nice, it's not like it was a big deal anyway blah blah fucking blah', but no. Bam had merely come home and gone straight to bed, shooting Ville a strange glance along the way. It was triumphant, knowing and, dare he say it, a little bit guilty. He was confused, yes, but not enough to follow it up. Who cared anyway? Destiny had turned out to be a lying, scum-sucking whore. He didn't care what Bam or anyone said, that girl did not have a decent bone in her body.  
The rest of the week passed almost in complete silence. Whenever Ville was in a room with any of the other guys, they all gave him funny looks, but didn't say anything. Bam seemed to have locked himself in his bedroom, only coming out to eat. April still came around a couple of times a week to clean the house up, attempting conversation with Ville and the boys, but no one was very forthcoming, so she soon gave up.  
It was now two weeks since Destiny had left, and no one had heard from her. Ville sat alone in his room, staring out the window. In three days he would be returning to Finland. He had never been more anxious to go home. He just wanted to get out of Castle Bam and forget that this particular visit had ever taken place.  
As he stared vacantly at a passing butterfly outside his window, he heard a faint knock on his door.  
"Come in." he called out.  
The door opened to reveal Ryan Dunn standing in the doorway.  
"Hey man, could we talk?"  
Ville smiled. He had always liked Dunn. The man was the most sane of Bam's friends, and he and Ville shared the same dry sense of humour.  
"Of course. What's on your mind?"  
Dunn sat down on the end of Ville's bed and sighed.  
"It's not what's on my mind dude. It's what's on yours. You gotta call Destiny."  
Ville's small smile disappeared.  
"I don't 'gotta' do anything, Ryan. I never want to speak to her again."  
"Why? Just because you saw a few guys walk out of her room and found some naked photos online? Seems like a pretty stupid reason to cut someone out of your life. If I did that every time I saw one of my friends nude on the internet, I'd have no friends left at all. And that includes you."  
Ville remained silent. He knew he had overreacted, but he was still hurt.  
Dunn sighed again.  
"Look, man, all I'm saying is maybe you should hear her side of the story. You know Bam better than anyone."  
And on that cryptic note, the shaggy-haired blonde man stood up and left, leaving Ville to attempt to decipher his last words.

Two weeks back in LA and Destiny felt like she had never left. She was reconnecting with some of the friends she had made in rehab, as they were the only sober people she knew. She planned to go and spend a few days in New York with Corey and Chrystal. The two had met in rehab and had recently become engaged. Weird how things like that worked.  
She also needed to buckle down and find a job. She had always had a talent for art and an affinity for tattoos, but she had no qualifications to speak of, and she didn't know if anyone would be willing to take her on as an apprentice, but she decided it was worth a shot. She still watched LA Ink religiously and when in one of the episodes Pixie, the pretty pierced receptionist, quit, Destiny jumped on the opportunity.  
On a sunny California morning, she walked back into High Voltage, resume in hand, and straight up to the front desk.  
"Hello, welcome to High Voltage. I'm Kat. Anything I can do for you?"  
Destiny smiled at the heavily tattooed woman behind the counter.  
"Yeah. Remember me? Destiny."  
"Oh yeah!" Kat exclaimed. "The self-portrait, right?"  
Des nodded and Kat leaned across the counter, pulling her into a hug.  
"I like what you did with your hair." Kat complimented once she pulled away.  
Destiny ran hand through her hair and smiled.  
"Thanks."  
"So, what can I do for you?"  
Destiny cleared her throat.  
"Well, I heard that Pixie quit, and I really need a job."  
Kat beamed at her.  
"That's great! We really need a new receptionist."  
"I was also wondering if, on top of that, I could maybe come in and learn how to do tattoos." Destiny asked hesitantly.  
Kat thought for a moment.  
"Do you have any experience?"  
Des shook her head.  
"No, but I've been drawing for years. Here, I brought these for you to have a look at."  
She placed her portfolio on the counter and Kat picked it up, flicking through it with great interest.  
"Wow. These are good. These are REALLY good." she said, closing the book and handing it back to Destiny, who smiled and thanked her.  
"Well, look, it would be great if you could do the whole reception thing and how about, on alternate weekends you can come in and I'll show you the ropes of tattooing?"  
Destiny grinned.  
"I'd love that. When do I start?"  
Kat glanced down at her schedule.  
"Come in next Monday and we'll get you started on reception, then you can start to do your training next weekend. Sound good?"  
"Sounds great!"  
"Okay, well, see you on Monday."  
Destiny left High Voltage with a grin on her face that lasted the rest of the day. She was finally pulling herself together.

Bam didn't know what to do. On the one hand, Ville had deserved what he got. On the other hand, Destiny didn't. And on the third hand, he didn't know whether to simply own up and tell his friend the truth or just carry on with the charade.  
He had never meant for it to end the way it did. He had though that Ville's gentle nature would stop him from every personally confronting Destiny. She was never supposed to have any clue why Ville was pulling away from her. But Bam had been wrong. He had simply pushed the envelope too far by posting the mock-ups of Destiny online. It had been the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak.  
Bam Margera was not used to feeling guilty. He was used to pulling off a prank, having a laugh at the unsuspecting victim and then moving on. But this was different. He hadn't wrecked a car, or a house, or someone's clothes. He had ruined a relationship.  
He jerked his head up out of his pillows as he heard someone knocking on his bedroom door.  
"What?" he called out.  
"Are you dressed?" answered a voice he recognized as Dunn's.  
"Since when do you give a shit?"  
"Look, dude, I wanna talk to you and I don't wanna have to have your junk staring me in the face while I do it. Are you dressed or not?"  
Bam sighed.  
"Yeah, I'm dressed. You can come in."  
The door opened and Dunn stepped into the room, closing it behind him.  
"What do you want?" asked Bam.  
"Look, I'm not gonna lecture you because I know it won't make any difference. All I'm gonna say is this: Ville is not an idiot. He will figure it out eventually. Wouldn't you rather just tell him now and get it over with? It will be easier than just waiting for him to put two and two together. And you know he will."  
Bam sat up and rubbed his eyes.  
"Yeah, I know, but hopefully by the time that happens, he'll be far away, back in Finland and I won't have to deal with it."  
Ryan put a hand on his friend's shoulder.  
"Look, man. You destroyed his friendship with Destiny. You know how he felt about her. I can assure you now that, no matter where he is, he will come back to the States just to kick your ass when he finds out what you did."  
"I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, Dunn. Now piss off."  
Dunn sighed as Bam buried his face into his pillow once more. Bam Margera was a lot of things. A jerk, a jackass, a prankster, a millionaire. The public knew him as all of these. But there was one that no one ever saw. Bam Margera was a coward.


	12. Fading Scars

Fading Scars

The time continued to pass with no one ever looking back. By Christmas, it was almost as though the the CKY crew and Ville had never even heard of Destiny McMahon, and vice versa. She was absorbed in her work, having finally become a fully qualified tattoo artist and working six days a week at High Voltage. She had been given a makeover by her boss in the form of several new tattoos. Her hair now hung to the centre of her back, and she usually wore heavy makeup and goth-style clothes to work. Everyone said it suited her marvelously. That was not all that had changed though. She had moved out of the shitty little apartment that the rehab clinic had set up for her, and into a big three bedroom townhouse in Malibu, a mere ten minute walk from the beach. At first, three bedrooms had seemed like a waste but a few weeks after she moved in, Chrystal had called from New York, saying something about a back-stabbing friend and Corey being unfaithful, so Destiny had gladly let the distraught girl move in with her. Truth be told, after living at Castle Bam for so long, the solitude of living alone was almost unbearable. She would never admit it to anyone but herself, but she missed the chaos.  
She still sometimes read through the slosh columns online just to check up on what they were all doing. Bam was set to start a new show soon, and he was filming Jackass three. Dunn was also in Jackass three, but, on top of that, he was off starring in a movie of his own. The name of it escaped her, but, from what she had heard about it, and from what she knew of Ryan, it would be hysterical and she looked forward to checking it out. Novak, she was saddened to hear, was living back in Baltimore and was back on heroin. Reading this had made her shudder. She knew that, if she wasn't careful, that could be her. Raab and his Russian mail-order bride had moved away from Castle Bam to settle down, as they no longer wished to be in the public eye. Good luck to them. Destiny knew this would be easier said than done. She had dated Bam for all of five seconds, but she still popped up in the tabloids from time-to-time. And now that she was working for Kat von D at High Voltage, which meant being featured on LA Ink, she found herself being pushed into the limelight more and more frequently.  
The only man who's name she scarcely ever saw was Ville's. He seemed to have retreated to Finland and dropped off the face of the earth. She often thought back to their explosive argument that fateful day at Castle Bam, but only when she was lying in bed in the small hours of the morning, unable to sleep because of the dreams. Yes, the dreams were back. Only now, her nightmare bore a new face. Night after night, she watched herself curl up on the floor in a drugged out haze as Scotty stood over her, glaring down at her with hate-filled eyes. Then, Scotty's face would change. His face would become thinner, his features more defined, his hair longer and darker. Scotty became Ville. He would scream at her, in much the same way as Scotty had, that she was a worthless whore, and that she had been deluding herself to think that he had ever wanted her in the first place.  
If Destiny had thought the original nightmares were bad, these were horrific. Every time she experienced one, she would wake up in tears, sweat pouring from her forehead, her breathing short and laboured. In the end the dreams became so bad that she refused to sleep altogether. Everyone noticed that she was becoming more and more drained as time went on, and they were beginning to become concerned.  
"Des, you look like death reheated." Chrystal told her one chilly December morning as Destiny entered the kitchen, all dressed and ready for work.  
"The expression is 'death warmed over', Chrys, and I do not." Des claimed, grabbing an apple from the bowl on the counter and taking a big bite out of it.  
"Whatever. How did you sleep?"  
Destiny averted her eyes from those of her friend. She had never been a good liar.  
"Good." she said, taking another bite out of the apple.  
"Don't lie to me Destiny. I know you haven't been sleeping."  
Destiny swallowed the food in her mouth and then opened it to give a smart-ass reply, only to exclaim in horror as she glanced at the clock on the wall behind Chrystal's head.  
"Shit!" she exclaimed. "I'm late!"  
Grabbing her bag and her coat, she rushed out the door to the brand new car she had treated herself with upon getting her license a few months ago. It was a black Chevy Volt, and she loved it to pieces.  
"Don't think you're getting out of this! We're talking about it when you get home!" she heard Chrys call from inside the house.  
Smiling to herself, she climbed into the car and started it, letting the soft hum of the engine calm her down before pulling out of her driveway and taking off up the street.

Pulling into her reserved parking space behind High Voltage fifteen minutes late, Destiny ran in through the staff entrance, her cheeks pink from the sudden exertion of energy.  
"Kat! I'm so, so sorry I'm late! I guess I slept in."  
Kat shrugged.  
"It's cool. Happens to the best of us. But could I have a word with you in my office, please? It'll only take a second."  
Nodding, Destiny gulped. Kat rarely took her employees back into her office to talk to them unless it was serious. She hoped she wasn't about to get fired.  
Following Kat into her luxurious office at the back of the shop, Destiny sat back in the plush throne-like chair that Kat pulled out for her.  
"So what's up?" she asked, trying not to let the older woman see how nervous she was.  
"Look, Des, I love you. In the time you've been here, we've become really close, and you're a wicked tattoo artist, but I don't like being lied to."  
Destiny's eyes widened.  
"What d'you mean?" she asked curiously.  
"When you're late, don't tell me you overslept, because it doesn't take a genius to figure out that you haven't been sleeping much, if at all lately."  
Destiny dropped her gaze to the floor and Kat sighed.  
"Look, I'm not mad. I'm just worried about you. Why aren't you sleeping, babe?"  
Destiny shrugged.  
"If it's all the same to you, I'd rather not talk about it just now." she said, still staring blankly at the floor.  
Kat was silent for a moment.  
"Well, I'm here when you decide you're ready. I want you to know that."  
Destiny looked up into Kat's brown eyes and smiled.  
"I do know that."  
"Cool." said Kat, relieved. "I was just really worried that, you know, you might've started... well... You know."  
Destiny's eyes widened once more as she caught Kat's drift.  
"Oh, God no! No, Kat, it's nothing like that. It took me so long to pull myself out of that hole, the last thing I'm gonna do is throw myself back in it."  
Kat smiled.  
"Good girl. Now, c'mon, get to work! I'm not paying you to sit on your ass all day!"  
Grinning, Destiny saluted the laughing Kat and re-entered the main shop.  
So this was what it felt like when people cared...

"Ville, you can't be serious?"  
Ville ran a hand through his hair as he spoke to his friend Kat over the phone. He had called her long-distance from Finland to give her some news.  
"Why wouldn't I be serious, Katherine?"  
"Don't call me that! And because you know what happened last time. History always repeats itself, Ville."  
He sighed. Why couldn't anyone just accept his decision.  
"Well, Kat, I've made my choice. You have exactly one year to decide that you're happy for me."  
He hung up quickly before she had another chance to protest. Bam had been exactly the same when he had found out what Ville's plans were for the following winter.  
So, he was marrying Jonna? So what? She had proved that she had matured and that she truly loved him. And, while he couldn't say he loved her back, he was sure his feelings would grow over time. Dunn had kept on at him about getting in touch with Destiny, but he found that, as much as he wanted to, he could not bring himself to forgive her. He knew that she was working at High Voltage now, as he watched the show, and Kat talked about her a lot. She was obviously oblivious to what had happened between the two of them. Whatever. As far as he was concerned, it could stay that way. The less people knew, the better. He had always tried to be a private person.  
"Who was that on the phone, sweetheart?" came Jonna's voice up the stairs in Ville's tower.  
"It was just Kat!" he called back. "I phoned her to tell her about the wedding."  
Jonna's face appeared around from around the corner, a sour expression upon it.  
"She's not coming, is she?"  
Ville sighed. He should have seen this coming.  
"Of course she is, Jonna. She's one of my closest friends."  
Jonna plonked herself down onto his knee, pouting.  
"But, sweetie!"  
"No buts." he cut her off. "I thought we were past this. Come on, Jonna, there is no way you can object to Kat being at the wedding. In case you've forgotten, I'm allowing you to invite the same guy you cheated on me with!"  
Jonna's pout intensified.  
"But, honey, I told you, Mikko and I are just friends now!"  
"And friends is all Kat and I have ever been. So deal with it."  
He gently pushed her off his knee and she stalked away. She was a woman who was unused to not getting her own way. Deep down, Ville knew he was probably making the wrong move. Deep down, he missed the tiny fire-cracker known as Destiny McMahon.


	13. Collective Relapse

Collective Relapse

For the first time in his life, Bam felt truly alone. He was single for the first time in years and it seemed as if his friends were disappearing one by one. Ryan was off filming his movie. Novak was drugged out of his mind in Baltimore. Raab had moved in with Russian Mail-Order Bride. And now, Ville was getting married. To Jonna Nygren, of all people! Ville would never learn. He was a rock star. A sex god. Girls all over the world creamed their panties at the mere thought of him. He could have any decent girl he wanted, and yet he chose the one that had screwed him over time and again. Bam just didn't get it. Of course, he knew that he was the reason that Ville had missed out on the best thing that could possibly have happened to him. Not a day went by when Bam didn't feel guilty. When he saw his friend, he could scarcely bring himself to look into his emerald green eyes. He would be eternally ashamed of what he had done, but he still didn't have the balls to come forward and admit it to Ville.

Still not sleeping, Destiny found that every aspect of her life was suffering. Her work was second-rate, her relationship with her co-workers and her room-mate were being tested to the limits and she had almost crashed her brand new car several times from falling asleep at the wheel. She knew she needed help. So, against her better judgment, she turned to the only person she thought could help her.  
"Carson?"  
There was silence on the other end of the phone, but only for a few seconds.  
"Destiny?" came the voice of Carson Prince, one of Destiny's oldest friends and most reliable dealers.  
"Yeah, it's me."  
"Holy shit, girl!" he exclaimed. "It's been months! I heard you went to rehab."  
"Yeah, I did." she confirmed. "I've been out just over six months now."  
"So what are you doin' calling me?" he asked.  
She drew in a deep breath, not believing that she was about to do this.  
"I... I'm having trouble sleeping. I just need enough to help me sleep at night." she said, forcing the words out of her mouth before she could change her mind.  
"You sure? From what I hear, you went to a lot of trouble to get yourself clean after what happened to Scotty. Maybe you should think about it before throwing it all away."  
She gave a frustrated growl.  
"I've thought about it, Carson. I need this. Without it, I can't sleep at all and my life is suffering because of it." she told him, impatience dripping from her every word.  
"Well, okay. Don't say I didn't warn you. I'll have the stuff ready for you to pick up this afternoon. You know where I live. Come alone."  
And on that ominous note, he cut the call. Destiny kept the phone pressed to her ear. As the dial tone bleeped away in her head, she shed a single tear for what could have been.

All Jonna talked about was wedding details. It was beginning to drive Ville insane.  
"And then, for the reception, I want these centerpieces and I want DJ Orkidea to play."  
Ville sighed as Jonna completed yet another long rant.  
"DJ Orkidea sucks. You know I'm not a fan of electronic music. I kind of always pictured Hanoi Rocks playing at my wedding, you know."  
Jonna stuck her bottom lip out.  
"Andy McCoy is a drunk and a drug addict. I'm not having him at my wedding!"  
Ville gritted his teeth in frustration.  
"He also happens to be my friend, Jonna. He's coming."  
"No, he isn't."  
He dropped his head into his hands and sighed once more. If only there were a way to get this wedding over and done with so that he didn't have to listen to her rant on about it anymore. That was when his 'brilliant' idea struck.  
"You know," he said, "I've been thinking. Why wait 'til next year to get married? You and I love each other. Let's move it up."  
Jonna gaped at him.  
"To when?" she asked.  
"Next month. You can do everything exactly as you want. On one condition."  
"What is it?" she asked hesitantly.  
"All of my friends are allowed to come. And you can't complain about it. Deal?"  
Jonna beamed at him and threw her arms around his neck, showering his face with kisses, leaving big red lipstick imprints all over him.  
"Oh, yes, Ville! I love you so much!"  
"I love you too, Jonna." he replied almost automatically, not meaning it at all.

Knocking impatiently on Carson's front door, Destiny wondered for the millionth time what she was doing here. Shivering in the cold night air of Los Angeles, she took another deep drag on her cigarette before dropping it on the ground and stomping it out with her heavy Doc Martens.  
She glanced up as the door opened, revealing Carson's slutty cocaine addicted girlfriend, Bren, wearing nothing but a black lacy bra over her non existent breasts, a leather mini-skirt and knee high stipper's boots. Her ratty blonde hair hung in tangles around her face, which wore a spaced-out expression.  
"Oh, hey. Danielle, right?" she asked, her voice low, with that tone one only ever seemed to hear from drug-addicts.  
"Destiny. What's up, Bren?"  
Bren nodded, her eyes glazing over.  
"Not much. You here to see Carson?"  
Des nodded and Bren motioned her into the house. She pushed past the spacey blonde and into Carson's living room, where he sat with a tourniquet tightened around his left arm, a needle in his right hand, poised at the point of injection.  
"Hey, Tina." he said, without looking up.  
She shuddered.  
"Don't call me that. You know I hate it."  
He proceeded to push the needle into himself, the venom flowing from it into his veins, causing his eyes to slip out of focus.  
"Sorry. So, you sure about this?" he asked, pulling the syringe from his arm and setting it down on the coffee table.  
"Yes." She said without hesitation.  
He pushed a couple of baggies full of white powder towards her.  
"How much?" she asked, reaching for her wallet.  
Carson shook his head.  
"Don't worry about it."  
She frowned.  
"C'mon, Carson, I'm not gonna just take it for free."  
"Dude, we've been friends for ten years. I think I'm past charging you for drugs. Just take it."  
She reluctantly picked up the baggies and stuffed them into her purse.  
"Thanks." she muttered. "I gotta go."  
She rose to leave when Bren spoke up from the couch.  
"Stay, man. We haven't seen you in months."  
Des smiled at her. She had nothing against the girl.  
"Sorry, Bren. Work tomorrow, y'know. Anyway, I'll see you guys around."

She hurried home and made sure Chrystal was asleep, before shutting and locking herself in her bedroom. Taking out the little baggies Carson had given her, she began to search around for her old stash of needles. After finding them in a shoebox in the top of her closet, she sat down on her bed, pulling her studded belt from around her waist and wrapping it around her left arm. She gave her arm a couple of flicks to raise the veins and then focused her eyes as she carefully inserted the tip of the needle, hesitating for a fraction of a second before pushing down on the syringe, releasing the sweet poison into her bloodstream. Her eyes became unfocused as she drew the needle out of her skin and she gave a dreamy smile as she got up to hide the needles and drugs back in the shoebox, which she jammed to the back of her closet where no one would look. Collapsing back on her bed, she smiled again. She didn't know why she had ever wanted to give this up. The world was so much more beautiful when she was high. That was her last thought as, for the first time in weeks, she finally drifted off to sleep.


	14. Under My Skin

Under My Skin

Kat was worried. Destiny was slowly changing, and she didn't like it. She had gone from one extreme to the other with her sleeping patterns. Now, instead of not sleeping at all, she slept far too much, even falling asleep on the gold couches at work a few times. She was always spacey and vague. Her cheeks were hollow, her eyes sunken. She was no longer taking care of her appearance, often coming into work looking like she had just gotten out of bed.  
Kat was not an idiot. She knew what was going on. Of course, her suspicions had not yet been confirmed but she knew in her heart that she was right. Destiny had relapsed.  
Des wasn't the only friend Kat was worried about. Ville seemed determined to push on with his wedding, even going so far as to move the date up. The wedding was now two weeks away and he showed no signs of changing his mind.  
Bam was also on her mind. She had been to West Chester a few times to see him, but her crazy friend was no longer himself. He often sat around his castle, brooding and moping about something she could not get him to open up about.  
She hated how she had to watch her three closest friends self-destruct knowing that there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. But she knew one thing for sure. She had to get Destiny out of LA.  
It was nearing closing time at the shop, and Destiny was sitting on the gold couches, gazing off vacantly into nothingness. Kat slowly approached her, sitting down beside her and shaking her shoulder until she got her attention.  
"Hey, Des?"  
Destiny took a few moments to acknowledge her. She eventually looked over at Kat with her brown eyes unfocused and a dreamy smile on her face.  
"What's up Kat?" she asked, her voice slow.  
Kat grimaced.  
"I think you need a vacation. I'm headed over to Finland in a couple of weeks for Ville's wedding. It was supposed to be this time next year, but they moved it up. I was gonna take Nikki, but he's on tour at the moment. So what d'you say? Wanna be my date?"  
All at once, Destiny's expression changed. Her spaced out eyes suddenly became focused and sad. Her smile disappeared, only to be replaced by a pained grimace. She looked as if she was about to cry.  
"You okay?" Kat asked her.  
"V-Ville's getting married?" she asked, her voice suddenly very shaky.  
Kat nodded.  
"Yeah, he and his ex-fiancee got back together a few months ago. I think he's making a big mistake, but he is my friend regardless, so I gotta be there. And I don't feel like going alone."  
Destiny's brown eyes filled with tears.  
"No, Kat, I can't go to that. Take Hannah. Or Kim. It can't be me." she said sadly.  
Kat sighed. She didn't want to come straight out and accuse her friend of being on drugs, so she searched her head for another way to word it.  
"Look, Des. You just seem...stressed lately. You need to get away for a while. I'm not taking no for an answer."  
Destiny lowered her eyes.  
"I am the last person he would want there." she whispered, barely audible.  
"Why do you say that, honey?" Kat asked, leaning over to stroke her friend's hair which, she noticed, was all tangled and greasy. "Is it because you guys only met once?"  
Destiny shook her head.  
"Kat, I... He called me a few days after we met. He...invited me to go stay at Castle Bam with them and...and..." she trailed off and dropped her head into her hands, unable to finish.  
Kat put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her into a tight hug.  
"You can tell me, babe. I'll be the last person to judge you." she assured her distraught friend.  
And then, it all came out. Their blossoming relationship, the drunken threesome and subsequent relationship with Bam. The break up. The fake nude photos. The fight and her departure from Castle Bam. And the dreams that had followed. Kat just sat and listened. She now knew what made Destiny the way she was. The poor girl was heartbroken. Not knowing what else to do, she just held Destiny while she cried. And cried. And cried. This had obviously been bottled up for a long, long time. When, finally, the younger woman's tears dried up Kat spoke.  
"You just cemented my decision. You don't have to come to the wedding, but please, Destiny, I'm begging you. Come to Finland with me. You need to get away from all this."  
Destiny sniffed and sat silently for a moment. But finally, she nodded her head.

Once Destiny got back to her townhouse in Malibu, it was almost midnight. She had paid a visit to Carson on the way to re-stock her stash. She needed it.  
She walked into her dark house. Chrystal was asleep, as all the lights and the television were off. Sighing, Des entered her bedroom, following the familiar routine of shutting and locking the door behind her and then retrieving the shoebox from the back of her closet.  
Filling a syringe with the sweet substance she needed so much, she sat back on her bed, belt wrapped tightly around her left arm. The release when she injected was bittersweet. It unleashed all the memories. Of her parents, of Scotty, of Bam and of Ville. They were all good memories, but seeing their faces made her sad. And now, she was going to be in the same country as Ville at the same time he got married. She wanted to cry, but she found that she couldn't. It was as if all her tears had dried up.  
Suddenly, she thought of herself being the woman in the white dress, walking down the aisle to meet Ville at the altar. He was smiling, holding his hand out to her as she reached him. He kissed her tenderly after the I do's were said. And then whirled her around the dancefloor, whispering his love in her ear.  
Smiling, she held onto this thought as she slipped into a blissful, dreamless sleep.

Ville knew he was insane to be doing this. His wedding was two weeks away, and he was not looking forward to it in the slightest. Deep down he knew that Jonna hadn't changed, and that this marriage would just end in a messy divorce. But he couldn't stop himself. He was sick of being alone. He just wanted someone to come home to, and curl up next to in bed at night. Even if that person was Jonna.

The weeks passed quickly and, before either of them knew it, Kat and Destiny were at LAX, standing in a line to board a plane. Destiny had not spoken all day. Kat didn't blame her. She had no idea how hard it was for her friend to be facing up to this.  
A voice called out over the PA system for passengers to submit to baggage checks before boarding. Kat already knew that she and Destiny would be subjected to these 'random' luggage checks. It happened to her every time she flew. People seemed to take one look at her, notice all the tattoos and say to themselves 'here's trouble'.  
As she had predicted, a customs official soon sauntered over to the two of them, looking as if he thought he owned the place.  
"You ladies have been randomly selected for a luggage check. Would you come with me, please?"  
Inwardly, Kat laughed at the man's delusions of grandeur. Outwardly, she nodded politely and pulled Destiny by the arm into the little room that was set aside for the bag checks.  
The two women answered all the appropriate questions before their bags were opened and searched extensively. Kat's bag was given back to her with no problem. They then started on Destiny's.  
Pulling everything out, they were almost satisfied that it was clean. But then, the customs official noticed a slight rip in the lining of the suitcase. Kat's face drained of all colour. She had not taken this into consideration at all. She had known, or at least suspected that Destiny had a drug problem, yet she had decided to invite her on an international plane trip. How stupid could she be!  
"Ma'am, do you mind explaining what this is?" the customs officer addressed Destiny, holding up a little baggie filled to the brim with white powder. Destiny remained quiet and stared at the floor. Her silence was all the man needed.  
"I'm placing you two ladies under arrest for suspicion of trafficking illegal drugs."

Almost everyone was here. Ville scanned the crowd, picking out the familiar faces. One, however, was missing. Where was Kat? She had promised him she would be there.  
Oh well. No time to dwell on it now. The music was starting and any second now, Jonna would be walking down the aisle to meet him.  
She appeared, looking like a vision in her white dress. A gasp went up from the audience, but Ville was unmoved.  
All too quickly, she was beside him. They were holding hands and the priest was beginning his spiel.  
Ville tuned out until it came time to say his I do. Jonna had already said hers, and now it was his turn to commit.  
Jonna beamed at him as he licked his lips, listening to the priest go on about a love he and Jonna did not share.  
Suddenly, his phone rang. Jonna frowned at him as he glanced down at the caller ID. It was Kat. She would not be calling him in the middle of his wedding unless it was important.  
He glanced up at Jonna and the priest, both of whom looked annoyed and impatient.  
"Uhh... Excuse me a moment, I really have to take this." he said, wandering off to somewhere he would be hidden from view.  
"Kat!" he exclaimed, flipping his phone open. "This had better be good woman. I'm in the middle of trying to get married. Where are you, anyway?"  
Kat's voice was shaky as she spoke to him.  
"Ville, I'm so sorry. I... I decided to bring Destiny to Finland with me, because she really needed a vacation. Well, we got stopped at customs for a bag check and... and... and..."  
"And what, woman! Spit it out!" he said agitatedly.  
"Destiny's being held for possession of heroin!" she exclaimed, all in one breath.  
Ville went pale.  
"She what?"  
"I've been suspecting it for weeks. She's been having a bit of a hard time lately." Kat explained. "And I think you know why, Ville."  
He was silent for a moment. So she did know, he thought.  
"I'm sorry, Katherine, but Destiny is really not my problem. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a wedding to attend. Mine!" he told her, hanging up quickly before she could protest.  
Inside, he felt terrible. Destiny was back on heroin and it was all his stupid fucking fault. He loved her, and yet he had managed to reduce her to this.  
Shaking his head, he realized that people were waiting for him. He knew he needed to go through with this. Shaking slightly, he pulled out his phone and opened up a folder in which he kept Destiny's nude shots. He had saved them to his phone so that when he was doubtful of his actions, like right now, he could remind himself that even the most decent of women could turn out to be total whores. He quickly glanced over the photos and walked back out onto the altar, muttering apologies as he did so. In his mind, however, he was still going over Destiny's photos in his head. He didn't know why, but when he had looked at them this time, something about them just didn't seem right.  
It clicked. Her tattoos. Where were her tattoos? Destiny had several, yet the woman in the photographs had none. So she had been telling the truth. They were fakes. How had he not noticed before? Ville silently kicked himself, at the same time wondering how they had come to be in existence. Then it hit him like a truck. Bam. Fucking Bam. Hell hath no fury like a Margera scorned. Bam had been trying to make him pay for convincing Destiny to break up with him. Ville felt like the world's biggest idiot at that moment.  
Here he was, marrying a woman he did not love, when, halfway around the world, there was a woman who would gladly be at his side.  
"And do you, Ville Hermanni Valo, take Jonna to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in health, 'til death do you part?"  
Ville glanced down at the elderly priest, then out at his guests and then at his bride. This was it. It was now or never.  
"I... don't." he said finally casting his eyes to the floor.  
Jonna let out a screech.  
"I knew you would do this to me, Ville Valo!" she yelled, throwing her bouquet at him him and storming off down the aisle, bridesmaids in tow.  
Jesse, his brother and best man, put a hand on his shoulder.  
"I just couldn't do it, Jesse." he told him quietly.  
Jesse smiled.  
"Well, thank god for that."  
Ville laughed weakly as he caught Bam's blue eyes on him. Purposefully, he excused himself from Jesse and walked directly to where Bam was sitting.  
The skateboarder opened his mouth to say something, but Ville shut it with a swift punch to the jaw.  
"I know what you did." he spat, before stalking out of the church, leaving a shocked Bam sitting there holding his face, a red mark already forming. Destiny needed him. And this time, he would be there for her every step of the way.


	15. Family Ties

Family Ties

Destiny was terrified. 12 months in jail. She couldn't believe it. Had it been a domestic flight, she would merely have been ordered by a judge to go back to rehab, but no. She had been caught trying to smuggle heroin out of the country. And now, she was facing a year-long stretch behind bars.  
It had already hit the news, and hard. An LA Ink star caught in possession of drugs. She simply couldn't believe her sheer stupidity.  
Her friends rallied around her. Chrystal, Kat, Corey, Hannah and Kim were her biggest support, first posting her bail and then appearing as character witnesses at her trial. They had tried their hardest but, with her past the way it was, the verdict was inevitable.  
It was her first week inside, and she was trying to keep mainly to herself. She was not scared of the other inmates, but she just wanted to do her time and go home. One of her friends usually came in to visit her every day, making sure she knew that they had not forgotten her. While Kat had been forced to call in another artist to cover her station, she assured Destiny that her job would always be there for her when she got out.  
Visiting hours rolled around again one cold afternoon. Destiny was sitting in her cell, waiting to see which of the gang would be in to see her today.  
Sure enough, her cell door soon slid open.  
"McMahon. Visitor." the guard told her.  
She stood up wordlessly, allowing herself to cuffed, and then followed the burly female guard into the visiting room.  
She glanced around expectantly. Unable to see any of her friends, she looked at the guard, frowning.  
"You sure you didn't make a mistake?" she asked.  
The guard shook her head and pointed over to a table in the far corner.  
There was a man sitting there. He had his back to her, so she was unable to determine who it was.  
Slowly and curiously, she made her way over to the table. The man stood up and turned around, a somber expression on his face. Her jaw dropped.  
It was her father.

Ville was still sitting miserably in his tower back in Finland, only now he was alone. Jonna had moved out the same day of the wedding and back in with Mikko, who, it turned out, was indeed still her lover. She really hadn't changed a bit.  
He sat by his bedroom window, staring vacantly at the snow as it fell. His mind was racing. What did he do now? Did he go to Destiny and tell her that all was forgiven? Did he go to Bam and punch him in the face again? He just did not know. So he called his mother.  
"Hei?" his mother answered the phone.  
"Hei Aiti. Kuinka voitte?" He replied.  
"Ahh, Ville! It's so good to hear from you. I didn't get a chance to speak to you after the wedding. Your father and I are so happy you decided not to go through with it. Jonna was never right for you, you know!" she ranted, switching rapidly to English.  
She had always preferred speaking English over Finnish. Ville had never knew why. It was her that had taught him to speak the language as a child.  
"I know, Mama, I know." he assured her, running a hand through his hair.  
"So to what do I owe the pleasure of a call from my oldest son?" she asked, teasing him.  
He knew he didn't speak to her nearly as much as he should, and it killed him. But he was always so busy.  
"I need your advice, Mama." he sighed.  
"Is it a woman?" his mother asked, ever the intuitive one.  
"Yes." He admitted.  
His mother squealed in delight. She really did act like a teenager sometimes. All those years of dealing with giggly eighteen year old's at the sex shop must have gotten to her.  
"Who is she? Is she pretty? What's she like?"  
"Her name is Destiny, Mama, and she's American. She is very beautiful and she is the kindest, most caring woman I've ever met." he told her wistfully.  
"Then why do you need my advice? Marry her for God's sake, before she realizes what she's getting into and runs in the opposite direction!" she exclaimed, teasing him again.  
"It's not that simple, Mama." he sighed. "You see... She's in jail."  
"In JAIL? Oh, my God, Ville! Another psycho?"  
"No, Mama, not a psycho." he explained patiently. "A heroin addict. She was clean when I met her, but she relapsed not long ago. And I'm afraid it's all my fault."  
He then launched into the retelling of Bam's deception and the fight between himself and Destiny and how she had been caught with heroin in her luggage on her way to Finland to attend his wedding. When he was done, his mother was silent.  
"Mama? Are you still there?" he asked.  
"Yes, I'm here. Let me just begin by saying that, next time I see that Margera kid, I'm going to kick him in the jewels!" she assured him.  
He laughed. His mother never failed to cheer him up.  
"Look, Ville dear." she continued. "You have to follow your heart. If it's telling you that this Destiny girl is worth fighting for, then she probably is."  
"But my heart once told me Jonna was worth fighting for. And look how that turned out." he pointed out.  
Anita sighed.  
"No dear. You were simply struck with the common male affliction of confusing your heart with your cock. You have to make sure that isn't the case this time before you go chasing after this girl."  
Ville was silent for a moment.  
"It's not. I know it's not." he said finally.  
"Then you know what you have to do. Now, darling, I really must go. I think I can smell the roast burning. I'll talk to you later dear. Minä rakastan sinua. Nakemiin."  
"Nakemiin, Mama. I love you too."

"D-dad?"  
Her father opened his arms and she fell into them, just as she had used to when she was a little girl. The pain of the last ten years was washed away as she stood in her father's embrace. A single tear rolled silently down her cheek, which she quickly wiped away with her sleeve once her father released her.  
They sat down at the little circular table, facing one another. Destiny was at a loss for what to say. How do you greet a parent that you haven't seen in ten years? Somehow 'Hey Dad, I'm sorry I was such a fuck-up' did not seem appropriate.  
"Destiny, it's so good to see you again." her father told her, tears brimming in his brown eyes.  
"Really?" she asked disbelievingly.  
"Of course it is! Although I can't say I'm not a little saddened that you never managed to get yourself out of this...situation." he said, making an obvious reference to her years of drug abuse.  
"But I did, Dad!" she exclaimed. "I was clean for just over six months."  
His eyes widened.  
"Sweetie, you can not even begin to imagine how proud I am to hear that." he said with a smile. "But why did you never call?"  
Destiny cast her eyes down, staring at a non-existent spot on the pristine white table.  
"I didn't think you'd wanna hear from me after I... After what I did."  
Her father raised an eyebrow.  
"You're our daughter, honey. We've always loved you. Even with the drugs, and everything else you were going through."  
Destiny kept staring at the table.  
"I'm not talking about the drugs." she said, in barely more than a whisper.  
Mr McMahon's eyes widened.  
"Honey, that was never, ever your fault! Your sister's death had nothing to do with you!"  
"Yes it did, Dad!" she cried, tears beginning to wash down her cheeks. "If I had paid a little more attention then there was no way she could have fallen down those stairs. I mean, she was only two!"  
Her father placed a hand on her shoulder.  
"Destiny, you weren't to know that the lock on the door was faulty. I should have told you in the first place, but your mother and I were in such a rush to get to work that it slipped my mind, and I feel guilty about it to this day." he assured her. "I always knew that the addiction must have had something to do with this. Am I right?"  
Wordlessly, she nodded. Her dad sighed.  
"Talk to me, Dessy. I can't help you unless you talk to me." he pleaded.  
"After it happened, I felt like shit. I was miserable and depressed all the time because I thought it was my fault. I still think that to this day. I just needed something to take the edge off the pain. It started out with just a bit of weed every now and then, but then I met Scotty, which made the heavier stuff more easily accessible. And one night, when I heard you guys talking about putting me in a clinic, I panicked at the thought of having to feel the pain all over again. So I ran for it. That's how I ended up in LA." she told him.  
"Where's Scotty now?" he asked her, glancing around as though expecting him to leap out from behind a pole.  
"He died." she said simply. "About nine months ago now. That was when I decided to go to rehab. Then I got out and met someone else. But now I fucked that up and he'll never speak to me again."  
Mr McMahon reached over and pulled his sobbing daughter onto his lap, as he had done so many times when she was a child. Wrapping his arms around her and stroking her long, dark hair, he was content to just let her cry into his shoulder. This was a moment he had been denied for the last ten years. His first true father-daughter moment.


End file.
